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Toy Dogs In Art Part I: The Italian Greyhound
Fortunately for us,
the members of the royal and noble families of Spain
were particularly attached to dogs, especially toy dogs.
Many of the famouspainters of
the time painted family portraits which included their
dogs. Works by Velasquez, Murillo and Goya in particular
painted portraits of royal families and their dogs, many
of them being, "toy dogs."
The walls of Prado in Madrid are covered by portrait
after portrait of dogs and their families or just dogs
alone beautifully painted. Anyone very interested in
dogs would certainly enjoy the experience of surveying
the walls of Prado.
Numerous dogs have served as models for sculpture of all
sorts as well.
The Prado has one of the best collections of art in the
world. The fine paintings are not Spanish, nor are they
paintings of the Spanish scene or family. The walls of
Prado tell a story of European history in picture form.
One typical example is a portrait painted by Jan
Brueghel de Velours. The painting is of the interior of
a collector's room, painted in 1617. The artist included
a tiny toy spaniel
confronting a monkey in the foreground of the painting.
In this same painting there is a small white woolly dog
which could be a bichon or a Maltese terrier sitting
quietly underneath a table just watching what is going
on but taking no part. HOW CUTE!
Artists have always been the recorders of their own
times. The artists tell us something about the dogs that
are still with us as well as about those that appear to
have been lost to us today. In one of Tiziano's
paintings done earlier than de Velours, he included a
dog that if the animal existed today, would be a
glamorous-looking, long-haired Italian greyhound. One
has to wonder, however, did this dog truly exist during
that time or was this only in the mind of the painter.
The Italian greyhound was a favorite at court in both
Spain and Italy centuries ago and appears frequently in
paintings in the Prado. It has been noted that much to
one's surprise in one case the Italian Greyhound is
painted with its ears cropped. This was quite unusual. Pugs looked
fine with their ears cropped, but the Italian Greyhound
with cropped ears? Once again I have to wonder if maybe
some of these models of dogs in these famous paintings
are just from the minds of the creator of the painting
and not dogs that truly existed during their times. On
the other hand, it could have been just an exceptional
case and not the norm of that particular era. I have not
personally seen this picture, have only read about
others seeing it, but I have to admit the Italian
greyhound would look every strange with its ears
shortened.
It has been said that one of the most attractive
paintings of an Italian greyhound was of one that
appears in the portrait 'The Earl of Northampton' by
Pompeo Battoni in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. He
was a large size for his period in the mid-eighteenth
century. At this time the Italian Greyhound was really
miniaturized. The portrait is said to be of a beautiful
specimen, with all the elegance and grace of the breed.
Connie
Limon. Visit us at http://www.abouttoydogs.com/ and
sign up for our FREE newsletters. About Toy Dogs is a
toy dog breeder and article directory. Purchase ad space
at $25 per year. Article
Source.
Also
check out: An
intro to some Italian dog breeds Italian
Greyhound Puppies Toy
Dogs in Art Part 1: the Italian Greyhound The
elegant and graceful Italian Greyhound Who
Is Taking Care Of Your Italian Greyhound While You Are
Away? Maremma
Dog Breed Profile The
Bolognese Neapolitan
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