This painting comes from a series of 12 paintings Chris Gollon painted in 2016, inspired by the enigmatic panel depicting a half-submerged dog, in Goya's 'Black Paintings', now in the Prado, in Madrid. In this painting, Gollon uses the Cardigan Welsh Corgi as the breed of dog depicted.

"The dog imploring us with his eyes from what seems a well of quicksand seems to have no political meaning, though it is a sublimely poignant image. That dog's terrifying yearning for safety and its absent master is the misery of Man in a comfortless world from which God has withdrawn. We don't know what it means, but its pathos moves us at a level below narrative."
Robert Hughes, the great 20th century art critic on Goya’s 'Perro Semihundido'.

Words on the series from Chris Gollon in 2016: "The background to this new series by Chris Gollon entitled ‘Perro Semihundido (after Goya)’ goes back over 200 years, as Gollon explains: " 'The Caprichos', Goya's great series, a combination of etching and aquatint, was a financial disaster. Goya paid to have 300 sets made and only 27 sold. As a result, he did not even bother to print his other great graphic series 'The Disasters of War' (this wasn't done until 40 years after his death). Thereafter, apart from his official portrait work, he would just paint images for himself. In the Black Paintings, done toward the end of his life, there is a curiosity: 'Head of a Dog'. We don't know what it means, and probably never will. This new series of paintings is my interpretation, loosely basing my imagery on various breeds of dogs from the ancient Ibizan hound to the Cardigan corgi or dogs from my imagination".

Within the series, Gollon’s dogs vary greatly and sometimes take on a quasi-human air, whilst their intelligence, moral centre and vulnerability are deeply touching. All seem to embody a physical and moral loneliness in a frightening world. In this way they connect with us, as Hughes rightly says, on a level below narrative.