Pet Party Line is a column written by Beth Byrd and is featured weekly in The Citizen News, one of our local newspapers.

Dogs in Art from the Renaissance to the Present

Dogs . . .Bear in mind that they are the only member of the animal kingdom who have bothered to make friends with humans, attaching themselves to us perhaps as early as 12,000 years ago. The Bruce Museum of Arts and Science in Greenwich, Conn. is presently hosting Best in Show: Dogs in Art From the Renaissance to the Present featuring over 50 paintings.

Early on, dogs --thought to have evolved from wolves, were classified into only a few generic types used by the nobility for hunting, herding and as guardians. It was not until the 19th century that modern-day dog breeds began to take shape. Dogs were depicted with people as early as 4000 to 2000 B.C. in rock carvings found in the deserts of northeastern Africa. But more civilized art had little to do with them except as accessories in paintings of saints, battles, etc., until the Middle Ages, when better-bred dogs began to hang out with aristocratic society. Lower class mutts doing common work like pulling loads were not refined enough for high art!

In 19th-century England, the most famous dog and animal painter was Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73). His portraits included courtly pets owned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His work "Attachment" depicts a scene from the true story of a young artist who set out in 1805 to climb a mountain and was accompanied only by his female terrier. He disappeared, but 3 months later someone in the area heard a dog barking and found the faithful terrier watching over the dead man, who had apparently fallen off a cliff.

Source: Best in Show article by Grace Glueck, NY Times, 7 July 2006.