It is in fact the same dog on the photo of Felix posing and on the portrait by Serov. This dog is Gugusse, a fawn french bulldog that Felix bought in Paris, Rue de la Paix, during a trip for the 1900 Paris exhibition ( see Avant l'Exil translated Lost Splendour ). Alike many early french bulldogs from the 1880s/1900s, Gugusse probably had some problems with his ears which did not have the proper " bat ears " shape typical of the frenchies nowadays. On the photo, Gugusse 's ears are flopping down either because the dog is teething ( which would be stunning as the dog was about 4 years old when this portrait was painted ! ) or simply his ears were of the " wrong shape " but Felix may just have asked Serov to paint the dog with " proper ears ".
As we all know, with Prince Felix Youssoupoff it is always the same old story : a clever mixture of fiction and facts. Moreover, in my opinion Felix was so vain in his young age, that it would not be surpising he asked Serov to paint the dog with " proper ears ".
Gugusse lived till 1914 and was buried in the Moitka Palace gardens.
