Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) was one of the most phenomenally successful artists of the Victorian era. His profound understanding of animal anatomy, upon which he built his career, was achieved through rigorous observation of écorché (skinned) specimens. In this he was encouraged by the artist Benjamin Robert Haydon, who later claimed that Landseer had 'dissected animals under my eye, copied my anatomical drawings, and carried my principles of study into animal painting'. Landseer attended classes in anatomy run by the famous surgeon Sir Charles Bell from his premises in Soho, London. In addition to these formal scientific studies, Landseer was also a regular visitor to Polito's Menagerie (later Mr Cross's Menagerie) at the Exeter Exchange in London, where he sketched lions and tigers.

This drawing is one of a group of eight anatomical studies of dogs and cats in the V&A which Landseer made between 1817 and 1821, when he was still in his teens.