Even Lucien Freud's Pluto (1988), a gem of Wallace Collection's exhibition, affirms the same message. In the Sistine Chapel, it's possible to see faithful hounds inserted into religious scenes by the artist Cosimo Rosselli, and tombs in medieval churches often have dogs lying at the feet of the deceased. In Titian's Venus of Urbino, a snugly sleeping pup has been inserted for precisely this reason, and marriage portraits from the Renaissance onwards frequently do the same. In the Renaissance, the very first books that catalogued symbols in art (such as Andrea Alciato's Emblemata of 1531 and Cesare Ripa's Iconologia of 1593) showed dogs denoting loyalty. Ancient Greek funerary monuments used to show dogs as icons of devotion, mourning their deceased masters. In using a dog to represent the very apogee of fidelity, he was drawing upon an age-old symbolism. Landseer's The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner (c 1837) doubles down on the loyalty theme, showing a hound devotedly resting on her master's coffin with doleful, skygazing eyes. Hector, Nero and Dash with the Parrot Lory (1838) shows Queen Victoria's pet dogs as the empitome of steadfastness, contrasting with the greedy parrot below them, who absentmindedly spills nutshells all over the floor. This comes across emphatically in the 19th-Century paintings of British painter Edwin Landseer. It's part of the spirit of the age of respecting animals and understanding their intelligence and giving them identity."Īnother aspect of the canine psyche, consistently affirmed in art, is faithfulness. Another of the exhibition's curators, Alexander Collins, tells BBC Culture: "it's very much part of a philosophical dialogue in the 18th Century about the nature of animals and whether they are receptive and emotionally intelligent. It reflects a way of thinking at the time – known as the cult of sensibility. The renowned portraitist Thomas Gainsborough wrote letters to his wife, delivered and "signed" by his favourite dog after marital arguments, and even hung a portrait of his two favourite pups in pride of place above his fireplace (Tristram and Fox, 1775-85). The heyday for anthropomorphising mutts came in the 18th Century. It's thought that dogs were originally domesticated around 14,000 years ago, and the symbiotic relationship of hounds and people has even been captured in cave paintings. To see in dogs the mirroring of human emotion is an artistic trope that extends far back into history. The subject wasn't dogs but my love of the little creatures." "I felt such a loss of love I wanted to deal with it in some way… They're like little people to me. "I wanted desperately to paint something loving," Hockney has written. The series was inspired by the death of the artist's close friend Henry Geldzahler. It is one of 40 paintings of the artist's pet dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie. This is tenderly evoked with the single beady eye holding our gaze in David Hockney's Dog Painting 30. One of the most appealing aspects of dogs is their apparent empathy with human feelings. But there's also a hint at the deeper symbolic meaning of dogs that enters an altogether more esoteric and metaphysical realm. In different periods, we can see art focusing on certain attributes of our furry friends like empathy, faithfulness, super-attuned senses and intelligence. "The way that our relationship with dogs – that unexplainable, loving bond – transgresses into art history is fascinating, and a greater reflection of society," he tells BBC Culture.Īs societies have evolved through history, changing feelings towards canines are captured in art. The curator of the exhibition, Xavier Bray, agrees. Striking new images by Africa's creative wave Why donkeys are taking over our screens What explains this special relationship? The Wallace Collection in London's new exhibition Portraits of Dogs: from Gainsborough to Hockney suggests that an answer can be found in visual art. As any mutt owner will attest, the human/hound bond is a profound one.
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