Dog portraits at new London exhibition #arthistory #artshorts

The Wallace Collection in London has a brilliant new show all about dogs; exploring our devotion to canine companions over the centuries, and how artists have represented this. ‘Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney’ opened last week, and will be showing until 15 October later this year.

Through carefully selected paintings, sculptures, drawings, works of art and even (some rather bizarre) taxidermy, the exhibition highlights the unique bond between humans and dogs.

Dog portraiture developed as an artistic genre contemporaneously with its human counterpart – dogs are represented in the earliest cave paintings alongside humans – and it flourished, particularly in Britain, from the 17th century onwards. More than any other nationality perhaps, the British have both commissioned and collected portraits of dogs.

#historyofart #artlovers #doglovers #animalart #dogportrait #dogs #funnydogs #artlove #exhibition #londonart #animallover #museums #museumcollection #curator #artcurator