Dogs

For millennia, dogs have been our best friends and cherished companions. Now we have the earliest ever pictorial evidence of that bond. Prehistoric rock art found in Saudi Arabia, which could be at least 8000 years old, shows humans hunting with dogs on leashes. These are the earliest known artistic representations of dogs. And more recently, from Greece, frescoes from the 13th century BC featured images of dogs used in boar hunts.

 

In our present age, the fascination with our canine friends and having their portraits painted as treasured family members can be traced to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The royal couple commissioned Edwin Landseeer (1803-1878), and later Charles Burton Barber (1845-1894), to paint numerous paintings of their many dogs and their other pets.  

 

The golden age of dog paintings is considered to be from around 1840 to 1940. You will notice that most of our collection is from that era.

 

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