BY Cynthia Close
MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE
DI NAPOLI (INV. NR. 9240).
COLLECTION STAATLICHE ANTIKENSAMMLUNGEN
CAPITAL MUSEUM, BEIJING
The role dogs have played in human survival from our earliest days of hunting and dragging our prey home can’t be overestimated. People have recognized the value of our canine friends and paid homage to this relationship with innumerable images—from those etched on cave walls more than 9,000 years ago to the millions of cute canine photos we see posted on Instagram.
Dogs are ferocious defenders against our enemies and loving companions in times of need. Artists from every century have found that dogs—much like our fellow humans—offer artists rich opportunities to express psychological, social and cultural meaning about specific moments in history.
The Ancient World
One of the earliest and most well-preserved sculptures of a dog is an endearing terr-cotta piece from ancient Greece, Dog With Puppy (opposite), which is alternately titled Dog With Prey. This demure statuette dates from 500–475 B.C. and, while the form is simplified, it perfectly captures the stance of the animal caught in action.
A few hundred years later brought China’s Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C.–9 A.D.). It’s considered the early golden age of Chinese culture, and the aesthetic developments during this period have influenced Chinese identity ever since. Poetry, literature, music and both decorative and fine art flourished during the Han Dynasty. Silk weaving, jade carving and Chinese pottery—most notably charming, ceramic figurines such as decorative terra-cotta dogs (see Western Han Pottery Dog, opposite) were found in Han tombs containing a wide variety of figurative sculpture meant to provide pleasure to the deceased in the afterlife.
The full color frescoes from Pompeii that have survived the centuries provide some of the most vivid portrayals of how dogs had become integrated as companions in the lives of early Europeans. A sophisticated rendering of a scene from ancient Greek mythology titled Endymion and Selene (above left), from around 79 A.D., was painted by an artist known as The Master of Color. It shows the handsome mortal, Endymion, who was thought to have an interest in astronomy, along with his greyhound-like dog. Both dog and man are transfixed by Selene, the goddess of the moon, as she descends from the sky. Selene was obsessed with Endymion’s beauty, especially when he was asleep. She convinced Zeus to place him in an eternal sleep so she could admire him at will. Perhaps the dog serves as a guardian while his master hovers between the world of the living and the dead.
A robust dog inhabits an oil painting of the same Greek myth by Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734), an Italian artist from the Baroque period. In Selene and Endymion (page 71), Ricci depicts a sleeping Endymion who’s now the focus of attention of both the dog and the goddess Selene. It’s interesting that in both the early work from Pompeii and this 18th-century painting, we can detect a leash or chain attached to the dog’s neck, perhaps tying the hound to his master through eternity.
Sighthounds, dogs that hunt primarily by sight rather than by scent, are among the oldest of canine breeds and have long been admired for their elegance and delicate beauty. In ancient times, they were particularly loved by Greek and Roman artists. Today, they’re often trained to work in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers as therapy dogs. Their affectionate nature is on display in Greyhounds Playing (above left), a stunning marble sculpture of a pair of hounds that dates from the first or second century A.D. The artist is unknown. The piece was found in 1774, in an Italian archaeological site that included many other art objects featuring dogs as subject matter. The breed of these dogs has recently been identified by Sir Terence Clark, a British writer, as saluki, also known as Persian greyhound.
The Renaissance
The little dog at the feet of the bride is easy to miss in Jan van Eyck’s 1434 painting, Arnolfini Wedding (above right). Van Eyck (ca 1390–1441) was an early Northern Renaissance court painter, revered in his own time, but only about 20 paintings attributed to him have survived, among them the iconic Ghent Altarpiece. He was a highly sought-after portrait painter, and his portrait of the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife is considered one of his most symbolically complex and original works.
Most of the objects included in the painting were selected to demonstrate Arnolfini’s wealth and status in the community. The mischievous dog is an early form of the breed known as the Brussels griffon and most likely served little practical service beyond entertainment for its owners. Lap dogs were popular among the well-to-do during this time, but the meaning of the painting, even the actual identity of the couple, remains in contention among art historians.
Dogs are often viewed as our most trusted companions. In the painting Five Eldest Children of Charles I, (opposite), by Anthony van Dyck (Dutch, 1599–1641), dogs are envisioned as protectors of children. At the time he was asked to paint this group portrait, the artist was the main court painter to King Charles I of England. The work is one of several of his children that the king commissioned. The eldest son stands facing the viewer while resting his arm on the head of a huge mastiff who clearly outweighs him. The smaller dog in the painting appears to be an early adaptation of the cavalier King Charles spaniel, a toy breed associated with King Charles II.
Five Eldest Children of Charles I (1637; oil on canvas, 64x78) by Anthony van Dyck
The Ulmer Dogge (left), a powerful portrait of a proud, handsome animal by the German painter Johann Christof Merck (ca 1695–1726) was a favorite of King Frederick I of Prussia. Little is known of Merck’s life beyond his stint as a court painter, during which he specialized in hunting scenes and animal paintings. This beautifully rendered oil painting pays homage to the dignity, muscular strength and intelligent gaze not only of a breed but also to the character of this dog. The wide, handsome leather collar around his neck suggests wealth, ownership and domesticity, but the animal isn’t leashed—perhaps a sign of trust between dog and master.
The Victorian Era
Another magnificent creature is captured in the oil painting A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society (above). The descriptive title of this painting communicates how the English artist Sir Edwin Landseer (1802–1873) felt about his subject. Landseer specialized in depicting animals—most often horses, dogs, stags and lions—and was considered a child prodigy. His artistic talents were recognized early on by his father, John Landseer, who was an engraver. The talented son first exhibited his work at the Royal Academy in London when he was only 13.
One of Landseer’s earliest paintings, Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler (left) is considered the source of the myth that St. Bernard rescue dogs carry a small barrel of brandy on their collars to assist in the resuscitation of mountain climbers caught in the snowy Alps.
Throughout the 19th century, elaborate still life paintings paid homage to the hunter and the hunted, as shown in After the Hunt (opposite) by David Dalhoff Neal (American, 1838–1915). This profusion of still life objects—including an impressively engraved weapon, a hunting horn, a wine decanter and flowers—are strewn across a damask-covered table. Two dogs—one a hound that presumably participated in the hunt, the other a small shaggy terrier—sit on the floor in the foreground amidst their prey: a duck, a hare and a partridge. Seated and half hidden in shadow is the gentleman-hunter raising a celebratory glass of wine to a comely woman who could be his wife, a maid or, possibly, his mistress. She’s holding a tray and appears to be serving him. People are secondary in this composition. The dogs are well lit in the foreground, capturing the viewer’s attention.
Place de la Concorde (1875; oil on canvas, 31x46) by Edgar Degas
Although the influential French artist Edgar Degas (1834–1917) is principally associated with ballet dancers as subject matter, he included a dog in his 1875 oil painting Place de la Concorde (page 76). This painting demonstrates Degas’ ambitious, original and idiosyncratic approach to composition. The figures aren’t engaged with each other, or with the painting’s viewers. They appear as if in a snapshot, caught in a moment of time when each subject—human and animal—seems to be about to move in opposite directions.
British-American artist Maud Earl (1863–1943) was the premier dog painter of the Victorian era. She specialized in painting dog portraits and gave credit to her father and uncles who supported her work and were all respected painters of animals in a prior generation. The Flat-Coated Retriever Champion High Legh Blarney (opposite), a painting of a flat-coated retriever shown in the middle of a Scottish landscape, was typical of the artist’s early naturalistic style. She captures the distinctive black coat tinged with warm redish markings that’s typical of this breed. Earl also adopted a lighter, sketchy, more impressionistic approach seen in Surely, Surely Slumber Is More Sweet than Toil (above).
The 20th Century
Some of the eeriest dog paintings of the 20th century were painted by Expressionist Edvard Munch (1863–1944). The 1930 portrait Head of a Dog (right) is reminiscent of his iconic painting The Scream.
Although Munch owned many dogs throughout his life, he didn’t always form a bond with them. His troubled relationship with a neighbor’s dog, Rolle, is well documented in text and images. At one point Munch threatened Rolle’s owner: “Most relieved would not only be your neighbors—but also you yourself—and most of all the dog itself if it was killed by a well-aimed shot!” Rolle had been abused and, like many mistreated dogs, his behavior was aggressive and unpredictable. In a watercolor from around 1938, Munch pictures Rolle as a tongue lolling, diabolical beast. In many ways Munch was as difficult and problematic as Rolle in his relationships with people.
Art-Centered Dog Shows
In 2019, the American Kennel Club opened a new museum at its headquarters on the corner of Park Avenue and 40th Street, in Manhattan, dedicated to all things dog related. The inaugural show at the Museum of the Dog (museumofthedog.org) featured “Women and Dogs in Art in the Twentieth Century.” The museum is where you’ll find works by artists like Maud Earl, among others, and where you can discover a multitude of artists who found inspiration in our canine companions.
Cynthia Close ( cynthiaclose.com ) earned an MFA from Boston University and worked in various art-related roles before becoming a writer and editor.
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