page_title: Cultural depictions of the dog
section_title: 19th and 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Cultural depictions of the dog / 19th and 20th century
context_page_description: Cultural depictions of dogs extend back thousands of years to when dogs were portrayed on the walls of caves. Representations of dogs in art became more elaborate as individual breeds evolved and the relationships between human and canine developed. Hunting scenes were popular in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Dogs were depicted to symbolize guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, alertness, and love.
  As dogs became more domesticated, they were shown as companion animals, often painted sitting on a lady's lap. Throughout art history, mainly in Western art, there is an overwhelming presence of dogs as status symbols and pets in painting. The dogs were brought to houses and were allowed to live in the house. They were cherished as part of the family, and were regarded highly by the upper classes, who used them for hunting and could afford to feed them. Hunting dogs were generally connected to the aristocracy. Only the nobility were allowed to keep hunting dogs, and this would signal status.
context_section_description: The picture entitled A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society depicts a dog that was well-known in London.  The dog, depicted in 1838 by Sir Edwin Landseer, was a Newfoundland called "Bob" who was found in a shipwreck off the coast of England. The dog found his way to the London waterfront, where he became known for saving people from drowning a total of twenty-three times over the course of fourteen years. For this, he was made a distinguished member of the Royal Humane Society, granting him a medal and access to food. Newfoundlands with white patches are now recognized as a breed of their own, as a "Landseer".
  By the Victorian era, the sporting tradition remained, but after the establishment of The Kennel Club in the UK in 1873 and the American Kennel Club in 1884,  breed standards, or "word pictures," were introduced, and dog portraits soared in popularity.
   There are stylistic differences between the British and European depictions; William Secord, a world expert on canine art, stated, "Belgian, Dutch, Flemish and German artists were more influenced by realism, depicting the dog the way it really looked, with dirt on it’s coat and slobber and that kind of thing. You see Alfred Stevens, who's Belgian, do street dogs and dogs that are suffering, which in England you never see. British depictions were more idealized. They want it pretty, simply put.”
caption: Miss Beatrice Townsend by John Singer Sargent
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