I'm guessing it wasn't Da Vinci

[plnnr]

We've all seen it a million times - the picture of dogs playing poker (or the variation of the dogs playing billiards). Who painted this masterpiece and where's the original (I'm hoping its very close to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre)?

[ShakeNBake]

I wonder if it's a take-off of some other famous Old Master?

[Protesilaus]

The original artist was Cassius Marcellus Coolidge. A short blurb about him can be found on this page:
http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/d-f/dogpkr.shtml

More Dogs Playing Poker sites:
http://www.retroactive.com/Postcards/coolidge.html
http://www.coteindustries.com/dogs/
http://www.angelfire.com/al2/FMSkoRn/pokerdogs.html

[mbh]

There is a slightly longer blurb on him in The Big Damn Book of Sheer Manliness, by Todd von Hoffman (ISBN#1-57544-050-4). It claims that he founded the first bank and the first newspaper in Antwerp, NY.
"His real success, however, came from an invention you will recognize. Coolidge created those cardboard cutouts you could stick your head through to be photographed as a muscle man or a fat lady. He called them Comic Foregrounds, and sold smaller versions mail-order.
Then he started selling his canine portraits.
Coolidge hit a nerve, particularly with the 19th-century sport. He knew dogs and the domains of men. His details were genuine, and guys today still recognize a pal among those bowser bachelors.
Apparently, the company that sold them, Brown & Bigelow, is still in business, and Coolidge's daughter is marketing new stuff based on her father's paintings.