Animal House

Forget those cuestick-wielding bulldogs on black velvet.

Tomorrow, Christie's puts a collection of dog art on the block that is expected to be the largest canine-centric sale over, with an anticipated net of more than $3 million.

Center stage at the Manhattan auction house is an 1824 painting, "Neptune," by British artist Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, expected to bring between $800,000 and $ 1.2 million. Landseer was one of the most famous animal portraitists of his time.

Dog buffs know that the type of black-and-white dog in this painting takes its name from the artist, who made them a favorite subject: Landseers  are actually a color variant of the Newfoundland, which most people think of as being all black. And the setting is no coincidence: Whatever its color, this breed was -- and still is -- famous for its daring rescues at sea.

Fittingly, the painting's frame is  made from the beams of the warship Téméraire, which saw action in the Battle of Trafalgar.