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We are moving!

Check out the link below to read more about dogs in art history! 

caravaggiosdog.wordpress.com

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Giacomo Balla (1871 - 1958) was a key member of the Futurist movement. 

Above is perhaps Balla’s most famous work, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash from 1912. 

This work is clearly influenced by the new technologies of film and photography. 

This shows a shirt haired dachshund, but in this image, it really lives up to its name of being a sausage dog! 

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This tile with an imprint of a dog, perhaps a greyhound, is from Germany in the 13th and 14th centuries. 

It seems likely that it was part of a tiled floor, perhaps in a monastery or wealthy house, as the houses of peasants and lower class people would probably have had a compacted earth or wood floor, as tiles would have been time consuming to make and fire. 

“Red earthenware, impressed with a dog and a leaf wihin a circle. Found in the Blauwolkengasse at Strassburg in 1899. Rhenish, 13th or 14th century” (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O281619/tile/)

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Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943), English novelist and illustrator, famous for many children’s books like Peter Rabbit.

Above is an informal sketch of a dachshund from 1880, when Potter was 26 years old. It is done in pencil on paper with perhaps an emphasis on the shading and depicting the muscles of the back and hing legs.

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Izumiya Tomotada, (1811-1883) was a fairly prolific Japanese ‘netsuke’ carver during the 18th century. 

“ A netsuke is a small sculptural object which has gradually developed in Japan over a period of more than three hundred years. Netsuke (singular and plural) initially served both functional and aesthetic purposes. The traditional form of Japanese dress, the kimono, had no pockets. Women would tuck small personal items into their sleeves, but men suspended their tobacco pouches, pipes, purses, writing implements, and other items of daily use on a silk cord passed behind their obi (sash). These hanging objects are called sagemono. The netsuke was attached to the other end of the cord preventing the cord from slipping through the obi. A sliding bead (ojime) was strung on the cord between the netsuke and the sagemono to allow the opening and closing of the sagemono. “ (See more: http://www.netsuke.org/page-1125375)

Carved from ivory, wood, or even seeds, their intention was to intrigue people by their minute detail.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=143156

http://www.netsuke.org/page-1125375

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/n/netsuke-inro/

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Bernard Lens III (1681-1740): Portrait of a Boy with a Dog, said to be Master Weld, 1720

Although so little is seen of the dog, it looks to be a King Charles Spaniel.

“This miniature of a boy is from a group of miniatures of the Weld family. It is known as ‘Master Weld’. The Weld children were second cousins of Richard Whitmore, who Bernard Lens painted in 1718 (inv. no. P.13-1971). Lens also painted Katherine Whitmore in 1724 (inv. no. P.14-1971). The maiden name of the Whitmore children’s grandmother was ‘Weld’, and this little boy is probably one of her nephew’s children. This family relation is of interest because it sheds light on the way in which a miniature painter such as Lens worked in the early 18th century.

Lens was based in London, where he taught drawing and miniature painting. He was a member of the convivial ‘Rose & Crown’ club for artists. He sketched regularly at the artists’ academy set up by the queen’s principal painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller. Lens also travelled regularly through England. He restored and framed miniatures in old collections, painted copies for collectors, and visited family homes to paint miniature portraits of family groups. This was presumably with the recommendation of one family to another.” (See ‘keep reading’ for link)

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O45631/portrait-of-a-boy-with-miniature-lens-bernard-iii/

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Jan van Eyck (1390 - 1441) painted this work, The Arnolfini Portrait, (1434). 

“This work is a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, but is not intended as a record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion. Arnolfini was a member of a merchant family from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple are shown in a well-appointed interior. “ (The National Gallery)

While it is tempting to write more about the symbolism behind the false pregnancy belly, (there was never a record of a birth to this couple so the bump is symbol of what they hope will come - fertility, a baby and therefore an heir to their wealth), as well as discussing the various visual metaphors in the picture, or whether this is even a portrait of a newly married couple, or a widower and his former wife, I know I must focus on the dog, as that is why we are all here!

(Detail of The Arnolfini Portrait, depicting the lap dog standing between the couple)

The dog, of course, represents not only fidelity, as we have seen before, it is not unusual for a dog to be portrayed near or between a couple to show their mutual faithfulness in marriage. 

The long haired little dog also reinforces the impression of wealth that a contemporary observer of the painting would have notices. Lap dogs were common companions of wealthy women, particularly at court.

There has been a suggestion by Campbell, (1998) that the dog is an early version of the Griffon Bruxellois, although to me, the van Eyck dog’s snout is more foxy, and less pug-like (see below picture of a modern, groomed Griffon). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait  ( Yes, I know one must never refer to Wikipedia and that it is not academically respected but for a ‘lite’ over view it is worth a read)

http://albertis-window.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/mrs-arnolfini-might-be-dead.html 

http://www.gailsibley.com/2013/10/13/jan-van-eycks-the-arnolfini-portrait-a-close-look/

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth214_folder/van_eyck/arnolfini.html < very thorough examination 

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/493496071649379381/ <picture of Griffon Bruxellois

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Marc Biboud, (1923-2016), Two Dog Acrobats, (1953).

Here the late French photographer captures a fleeting shot of Parisian circus life as two dogs are (probably) forced to walk the tightrope to the amusment and awe of the crowd below. A cup for donations stands in the foreground on an ominous looking straw laden crate - hopefully not the dogs’ cage.

The dog on top, (no jokes please) looks to be a terrier of some sort and the dog on the bottom is perhaps a labrador/retriever/mongrel...?

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Unknown artist, Attic Red figure cup depicting dog scratching ear with hind leg, (500BCE - 401BCE)

Ancient Greek, perhaps Athenian, red-figure painting of a greyhound type dog scratching his ear.

Although little can be known about the providence of the artist, let alone the dog, it is humbling to know that even over a 2,500 year period, dog behaviour has changed very little. 

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Unknown artist’s depiction of a man holding a spear, followed by a dog. Undated but produced between 18,500 and 14,00 years ago in the Altamira Cave, northern Spain. 

Made using diluted ochre and perhaps a shaped stick or animal hair brush (possibly).

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Ford Maddox Brown, (1821-1893) was an English painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school.

Above is an undated Study of a Greyhound, graphite on off-white paper.

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Zhu Zhanji (1399 - 1435), also known as Emperor Xuande of China during the Ming dynasty, painted Two Saluki Hounds around 1427.

His other paintings include Gibbons at Play (1427) and Fish and Water Weeds (undated) but who cares if no dogs are in it?!

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Mary Cassatt (1844 - 1926) was an American painter who focused primarily on the domestic lives of women and children in the Victorian and Edwardian private sphere. 

(Above: A Visitor in a Hat and Coat holding a Maltese Dog, 1879)

(Above: Woman on a Stripped Sofa with a Dog, 1876)

It could be suggested that these intimate pictures of women in repose and relaxing with their lap dogs would have been a stark contrast to the stiff, formal and etiquette-driven way women were encouraged to behave. 

In an era when children were expected to be “seen and not heard”, this painting, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, (1878) depicts an exhausted looking girl - lying legs apart on the sofa and dress rumpled up around her thighs, and collapsing back in the chair (most indecent!) -  sitting across from her in a separate armchair is an equally tired looking dog, perhaps a small Yorkshire terrier. The child appears to be contemplating the dog, maybe planning their next adventures. 

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Edward Henry Landseer RA (1802 - 1873) was an English painter of domestic animals, wildlife and portraitist to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. 

He was particularly remembered for his depictions of dogs, often giving them human qualities such as compassion, sympathy and morals - creating the “Victorian conception of...noble animals devoted to mankind...indicated in Saved (1856) by the fact that the dog has rescued the child without any apparent human involvement”.

(Above- Lion: A Newfoundland Dog, 1824)

(Below- Saved, 1856)

“So popular and influential were Landseer's paintings of dogs in the service of humanity that the name Landseer came to be the official name for the variety of Newfoundland dog that, rather than being black or mostly black, features a mix of both black and white. It was this variety Landseer popularised in his paintings celebrating Newfoundlands as water rescue dogs, most notably Off to the Rescue (1827), A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society (1838), and Saved (1856).”

(Below- A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society, 1838)

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Detail from the Codex Manesse manuscript, 1304 C.E. 

The Codex Manesse is a collection of poetry writtten in Middle High German in the early 14th century.

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Portraits of Henry IV of Saxony and Catherine of Mecklenburg by  Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1514. 

Perhaps their dogs match their personalities?

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A Woman with a Dog,(1769). By Jean Honre Fragonard.

The woman appears to be  Marie Émilie Coignet de Courson (1727–1806)

For more information: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436323