Trained sporting artists would paint individual champion birds almost like racehorse portraits. This picture presents a handsome fighter in a naive style, a single prized cock shown in profile. They would occasionally be named (an example attributed to John Nost Sartorius, portraying a cock called "Intrepid," is a good example of this type). This mirrors the equine sporting-portrait convention: the animal as the sitter, painted for its owner as a record.