Tsuktiben Jamir
We can’t help but fall completely in love with dogs. Simply just sitting and looking at them doing their own bizarre activities is enough therapy on our hands. Let us take it a step further; because there is good news for all dog lovers out there! The latest exhibition at the Wallace Collection in London, “Portraits of Dogs from Gainsborough to Hockney,” examines how canine companions have been portrayed throughout the 17th century up to the present. A mighty treat indeed, where the subject of this exhibition will be our beloved canine companion.
Courtesy: The Wallace Collection
The exhibition opens with a drawing by the great Leonardo da Vinci of a dog’s paw as seen in depth and from various angles: a wonderful illustration of his scientific sense of nature. The Townley Greyhounds, as they are called, are two slim dogs shown in a life-size antique Roman marble sculpture licking each other. The sculpture is so realistic that one may almost think it depicts guard canines preserved in the ash of Pompeii.
The exhibition also chronicles the history of Britian’s love and adoration of dogs to Queen Victoria in particular. She loved her Spaniels so much that she routinely had paintings of them painted as well as producing her own pencil and watercolour sketches of them. She also had a significant influence on how society expressed its sorrow over pet deaths, who mourned her husband Prince Albert visibly through heavy attire and jewellery. This led to the design of unique brooches and cravat pins with exquisite dog pictures and occasionally a lock of fur to remember them.
As a result, the theme of death is prominent in certain portraits, such as Edwin Landseer’s heavy-handed and melancholy oil painting “The Old Shepherd’s Chief Mourner,” which shows the agony of loss and unwavering devotion of dogs as a collie puts its head on its owner’s coffin. The Wallace Collection’s exhibition will showcase 59 pieces for the London art show, representing the whole range of humankind’s love for dogs. These works range from paintings to sculptures to sketches to taxidermy.
The goal of the exhibition is still to make us smile and remind us of how much dogs have meant to us. These loyal companions are always at our sides and frequently provide much-needed comedic relief. The exhibition opened its doors to the public on the 29th of March 2023 and will be on display till the 15th of October 2023.
Courtesy: The Wallace Collection
Dr Xavier Bray, the Director of the Wallace Collection told Wallpaper, “The idea of curating an exhibition of dog portraiture has been in the pipeline for a long time and, fortunately, the Wallace Collection lends itself perfectly to the staging of such an exhibition. Two of our most popular paintings are seminal dog portraits, Rosa Bonheur’s Brizo, A Shepherd’s Dog (1864) and Edwin Landseer’s Doubtful Crumbs (1858–9). They represent two very contrasting approaches to the art of dog portraiture. Bonheur’s portrait is a superbly lifelike and intimate portrayal of her French otterhound, Brizo. By contrast, Landseer is more interested in introducing a biblical parable into his portrayal, exemplifying the 19th-century urge to moralise through dog portraiture. In his work, a small street terrier waits for the “crumbs” from the St Bernard who falls asleep while feasting in his warm kennel – a Victorian moral of the rewards that await in heaven for the meek amongst us.”
Exhibition Dates:
29 March 2023- 15 October 2023
Venue:
Wallace Collection, London
