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The Dog: 5,000 Years of the Dog in Art

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Author Tamsin Pickeral gives an insight into her book, which charts the history of the dog in art, as well as covering the evolution of the dog and the impact that the dog had on the development of early human cultures. The Dog: 5,000 Years of the Dog in Art is primarily an image led publication and a coffee table book, but does also include in depth text for those who wish to read (and not just look at the gorgeous pictures)!



The Dog: 5000 Years of the Dog in Art
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Five thousand years seems like an eternally long period of time, and it certainly is when you have a publisher breathing fire down your neck and muttering about word numbers and lack of space, but actually viewed within the context of our history, 5,000 years is relatively short. It becomes even shorter when looking at archaeological evidence of domestic dog and the earliest discovered human/canine relationships, which date back to around 14,000 years ago to a site at Bonn-Oberkassel in Germany. This leaves a considerable margin of time between evidence of human/canine co-habitation, and evidence of the first images made of the dog, which date to around 5,000 years ago. Further, despite this evidence, the actual extent of the human/canine relationship is one that doubtlessly stretches back very much further than this date.

When I began the research for a book on the dog in art I found this discrepancy fascinating, particularly in view of the work I had done on a previous book, The Horse: 30,000 Years of the Horse in Art. The horse, it seems, inspired early human to crawl deep into caves and paint magnificent images of their likeness, yet the humble dog, companion, protector and hunting ally, remained largely ignored by the artist for thousands of years. The reasons for the lack of pre-historic images of the dog have disappeared through the course of time, leaving the gates of conjecture firmly open. Stepping through these, to me a fundamental cause of this difference was based on the very reason why we love our dogs so much today, their nature. The dog aligned itself with human very early in our history and quickly became the creature that we adore, one of readily given affection, forgiveness and loyalty. They attached themselves to the pre-historic fireside, and with inherent cunning allowed themselves to be domesticated, trading their loyalty and protective spirit for human food scraps, protection and shelter. In this way the dog became a part of the fabric of everyday life, and in this sense was an entirely unremarkable addition to the extended pre-historic family. The horse on the other hand, which was not domesticated until around 6,000 years ago, remained a magical creature to early human. It was untamed, ethereal and also, a valuable source of food, factors that made it a creature of considerable importance, which could provide argument for the proliferation of pre-historic horse images.

It was with some hesitation then that the dog, our most beloved companion, first started to appear in the arts, but after an initially slow start, the dog became one of the most frequently painted animals. They appeared at first as subsidiary to the primary subject of art works, slinking into the canvas to hover up crumbs from beneath laden tables, licking clean the feet of religious figures or accompanying bold warriors on hunting expeditions. Very small ‘pet’ dogs appeared in ancient Roman and Greek works, alongside and in contrast to the sleek ‘sight’ hounds of greyhound or saluki appearance, and to the heavy framed Molossian guard dogs and hunting dogs, the precursors to breeds such as the St Bernard, Alpine Mastiff, Bernese Mountain Dog and Rottweiler. From the very first recorded images of the dog in art, the spitz-like dogs in rock paintings in the Tassili N’Ajjer, Sahara Desert, one thing has become strikingly clear, and that is the enormous proliferation of different breeds of dog.

Dogs were frequently included in paintings to convey a symbolic message, most often being representative of qualities such as fidelity, love and servitude. Though conversely the dog can also be associated with deviancy and carnal desire. In particular black dogs have traditionally been associated with Hell and ambivalent supernatural entities in the arts, and black dogs in general appear relatively infrequently in art.

Dogs first began to be treated as a subject matter in their own right during the sixteenth century, and from this time onwards there was a steady and increasing treatment of the dog as an artistic subject, culminating in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. ‘Pure-bred’ dogs of different breeds had become prestigious and popular, with owners wishing to immortalise their pets in paint leading to a recognisable type of painting, the ‘pure-bred’ portrait. These works were designed to show off the breed’s particular qualities, and most often depict the dog standing in profile, in a stance not dissimilar to that required when showing dogs. It was during the same era that the ‘pet’ portrait also became popular. These works were intended to portray a beloved pet, regardless of breed, and were often heavily anthropomorphised. The twentieth and twenty-first century ushered in yet another interpretation of the dog, with images alluding to deeper psychological content and expressive of spiritual concepts.

The research for the book, which is barely outlined here, was extensive and amongst the most fascinating I have undertaken to date. Although I have always been an ardent dog lover, I had never really considered the importance of the human/canine relationship before in terms of its great depth and intricacies. To me as an art historian, much of the history and depth of this relationship is immortalised through the hand of the artist, providing an absorbing visual display of thousands of years of companionship. I could continue to wax lyrical, but have been warned again about ‘too many words’, so will sign off with a toast to our most beloved friends and the best hot water bottles around.

 

Tamsin Pickeral

Please visit www.tamsinpickeral.com for further information on the author and her books, or e mail her at writers-cramp@hotmail.co.uk

Graeme Sims: The man who can speak dog



Graeme can work up to nine Border Collies simultaneously.
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We've just got home from a highly enjoyable visit to Graeme and Maureen Sims. Graeme has a book out later this month, and having read it, I can thoroughly recommend it. Give a Dog a Home focuses on how best to settle rescue dogs into their new homes, and how to approach training them. Graeme uses two rescues dogs he has taken in, to illustrate how it can require lateral thinking to come up with a training regime that suits the dog. The interview we recorded today with Graeme will be in a DogCast Radio show later this year.

The book is a great read; Graeme is a brilliant

Snowballs



Star's stomach smothered in snowballs.
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We've had snow this week, which has brought fun and problems. Working from home, and home schooling too meant no snow days, but we managed to get out and have some fun. The dogs were so excited by this sudden covering of strange white stuff, and ran around exploring it. We have learned from experience not to let Star go out in the snow for too long. We learned this late one Sunday evening when we were so excited ourselves about an unexpected snowfall that we were all out in the garden at ten o'clock in the evening. Because it was dark, we didn't realise until we went back into the house, that Star had amassed a huge amount of little balls of snow in her fluffy coat.

Star's snowballs 2

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Star after a walk in the snow.

Star's snowballs

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Star with a tummy full of snowballs!

Really rare breeds



What breed is that?
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As you'll have noticed I like signs regarding the subject of dog poop. Not the bog standard (if you'll excuse the pun) ones that you see every day, but the more unusual ones. I've highlighted a few in this blog, and while going though old holiday photos I came across this beauty. Written in two languages, not just one, is a bonus, but the real joy is the illustration of the dog. I challenge you to name that breed!

It looks like the body of a Basset, the head a Dachshund, the tail of a Labrador, and legs made of cardboard tubes by the looks of them. There is the

Poo sign (again!)

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What breed of dog is that then?

Recommended reading

Do you have blogs that you like to follow? Well obviously, in addition to this one! There are various ones that I like to check in with regularly, and I thought I'd share some with you.

Technology goes to the dogs

High tech gadgets can be great fun, and there are some interesting ones available in connection with your pets. If you're into Tech for your pets, you can buy devices to help get a lost dog back, feed or water him, and more. For example, there's a combined camera and treat dispenser that enables you to interact via your computer or phone and reward the behaviour you want by releasing a treat.

Are you showing leadership to your dog?

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A quick reminder from Nick Jones of Alpha Dog Behaviour about how to avoid problems.

So often I find in my work that clients are falling into the same kind of ‘traps’ that make my phone ring with someone saying, “Help!”
On average, a first visit will last about three hours covering many issues, but here are a few top tips to ensure you dog sees you as ‘a leader’ and to avoid some of those traps.