An iconic image of a globally recognised entertainment trademark has been unveiled at a museum.

A painting of His Master’s Voice, known more widely as the “HMV dog” and showing a small terrier listening to a gramophone, has gone on display at the Huguenot Museum in Rochester.

Painted around 1937, the artwork is a faithful reproduction of the original created by Francis Barraud in the 1890s.

Barraud first completed the painting in 1898, showing his brother’s dog, Nipper, listening to an Edison cylinder phonograph that played recordings of his late owner’s voice.

When Barraud offered the picture to the Edison Company for use in advertising, he was turned down with the remark: “Dogs don’t listen to phonographs.”

Barraud reworked the image to include a disc gramophone after advice from The Gramophone Company.

In 1899, he sold the revised version for £100, half for the painting and half for the copyright, and it soon became the company’s official trademark.

The image, later adopted by HMV in Britain and RCA Victor in the United States, appeared on record labels, gramophones, and shop signs worldwide, making Nipper one of the most recognisable dogs in history.

The unveiling at the museum in Kent last week was attended by descendants of the Barraud Family.

Lara Nix, director of the Huguenot Museum , told the BBC having the painting in the permanent collection was a "real point of pride for Rochester and for Kent".

"Displaying Nipper here connects that Kentish heritage to one of the world's best-loved cultural icons," she added.

Nipper had already died three years before the painting was finished.

He lived for eleven years and was buried in London, where a plaque now marks the site known as Nipper Alley.

According to family accounts, Mark Barraud had recorded his voice on phonograph cylinders, meaning the dog may have been listening to his late master’s voice.

The museum acquired the painting because Francis Barraud was an artist of Huguenot descent, linking his background to the themes explored in its collection.

Barraud, whose ancestors settled in England after fleeing persecution in France, produced several authorised copies of His Master’s Voice before his death in 1924.

The exhibition is open Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm.