Nipper - real or fake

[roadster]

The two people credited in the title both worked in the sound recording industry: Birnbaum, British, was 35 years old in 1900 and Darby, a 22yr old American, arrived in Bremen in 1899 on the ss Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse (an interesting vessel: being the first "superliner", with four funnels), so could well have been in Britain in 1900. The dog appears not to be the original Nipper The dog in the film has a black left side face but the Nipper in the painting does not, but how many different Lassies starred in the films! So, quite likely a period recreation.