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Toy Dogs in Art Part III -
Children and the Cavalier King Charles
By Connie Limon
The artist Sir Joshua Reynolds
painted dogs into his portraits especially when he was painting
children, which he did often. The most frequently seen dog was the
King Charles spaniels. In one of his famous paintings, a portrait of
'Maria Gideon and her brother' in Viscount Cowdray's collection, the
dog was a rather large long-nosed version of the King Charles. The
King Charles spaniel has one paw raised as if clearly ready for a
game with the boy whom he looks as if he obviously adores in spite
of the fact that boy is carrying a stick. The boy is probably about
to throw the stick and the King Charles spaniel is waiting anxiously
for this to occur.
In Sir Joshua Reynolds painting of the family of George, 3rd Duke of
Marlborough, which is part of the collection of the Duke of
Marlborough, Reynolds uses Cavaliers.
Although Sir Joshua Reynolds depicts the Cavaliers a lot in his
paintings, he may have had a favorite dog that looked like a Shih
Tzu. This dog appears in the portraits of 'Princess Sophia Matilda
of Gloucester' in the collection of Windsor Castle, 'Emelia
Vansittart', Mrs. Crewe, and in the portrait of Mrs. Abington as
Miss Prue in Love for Love. Most portrait painters made a habit to
have their painting studio well-equipped with lay figures, costumes,
drapes and other accessories. The person actually being painted only
posed for short periods of time. The actual physical details which
included these other accessories were painted at the painter's
leisure without the model needing to be present. This little dog
that appears to look like a Shih Tzu was in a good many of his
portraits. One can assume this dog must have been his "pet," which
remained in the studio with him as did all the other accessories.
The Shih Tzu just adores an audience and attention. He probably just
loved being this painter's pet and painting accessory while getting
a lot of attention from the society beauties and children of his
time.
Other dogs painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds were the pug, a toy poodle
or perhaps a bichon. The dog was small, white and long-coated, and
appeared in a great number of his paintings.
Other interesting toy dogs appear in many paintings which tell us a
story of the important part that the toy dogs played in people's
social life. From allegory, down to fairly recent paintings of
either the genre type of the family portrait, the dog and often toy
dogs has appeared in his part of the family.
The families painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds had their spaniels and
terriers. Diana had her greyhounds. The French had their poodles. We
learn from these paintings that the toy dog and other dogs were
regular companions of men, women and families and sit in very
acceptable positions as members of the household.
There are many things written about dogs and toy dogs, but nothing
can take the place of a "visual story," a beautiful painting, to
tell us just how important the toy dog has been to us as a companion
all down through time. And....in the 16th century the paintings are
proof that toy spaniels really did exist.
It is not a sudden fad or any surprise the pet and pet care
businesses today are one of the most booming businesses of our time.
Toy dogs and dogs in general have always held important positions in
our lives and in our hearts.
One good example of a painting that tells us the story of how little
dogs were quite comical and irresistibly loveable little clowns is
the little dog in 'Portrait of a Man and Woman' by Jacob Jordaens in
the National Gallery, of London. It was included by the artist but
seems to not be really involved with the sitters in the painting,
although the toy dog could have belonged to the couple. The toy dog
sits at the man's feet, looking out of the painting with the most
delightful and comical expression. It could have been a Maltese or a
bichon frise. The story this painting tells us for certain is that
there was a little toy dog (of some sort) that at least one portrait
painter found "irresistible." These are characteristics of all toy
dogs and part of what make them so popular to us today. You will not
find this type of charm in a German Shepherd or a Beagle hound!
Toy Dogs in Art Series continued in Part IV.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.
Author: Connie Limon, Visit:
http://www.camelotarticles.com |
