ANIMAL PAINTING

I am not sure if it is a dog, a horse or even a cat that is supposed to be “a man’s best friend” but the special relationship between man and animal has long been celebrated. The caves of Lascaux depict admired buffalo, the Egyptians worshipped animal-faced gods, the Greek comic genius Aristophanes fantasised about rule by “The Birds” and the Roman Emperor Caligula made his horse consul. The pedants of the 17^th century ranked the painting of animate creatures only below the depiction of humans and above landscapes and still life; I will not join that debate but simply enjoy some of the images great artists of the past have bequeathed to us.

Exotic animals excited great public interest in Europe in the era of discovery and exploration. A famous image is Dürer’s Rhinoceros, which he created without actually seeing the formidable creature:

Woodcut of a "Rhinocerus" by Albrecht Durer (1515)

              

We must fast-forward to the 18^th century, a time of ease for the leisured classes, when pets could be indulged and animal sentiment expressed without embarrassment. Contact with animals was easily made in the farm-yards, parks and forests of great estates. The Dutch d’Hondecoeter family of painters specialized in familiar birds. Their works are well represented in British collections, including this one from Dyrham Park, near Bristol, displaying true virtuosity..

Cock and Turkey fighting, by Melchior d'Hondecoeter

           

Much more popular were domesticated animals and the French depicted young girls with their favourite cats as with this effort from Perrenneau (Kitty looks decidedly bad-tempered to me!):

Miss Bowles and her Dog by Joshua Reynolds

A Girl with a kitten by J-B Perrenneau (1745)

Pace cat-lovers but I rather prefer Reynolds, sentimental admittedly, but I am a big softie.

One of the great English masters was George Stubbs who flourished in the 18^th century. His horse-paintings are unmatched:

John Banham Day's dark bay horse by George Stubbs

By the end of that century Britain was at war with Napoleon’s France and there was some rivalry regarding the merits of Napoleon’s steed Marengo and Wellington’s sturdy Copenhagen. Both were splendid.

Wellington by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Napoleon crosses the Alps by J-L David

The 19^th century brought further riches. Franco-American J J Audubon published his seminal The Birds of America over 12 years from 1825. The wonderful bird paintings, displaying his mastery of ornithology, are a marvel even today.

Carolina Parrots by J J Audubon

In Britain the most eminent animal painter was Sir Edwin Landseer and his works were enormously popular. When Queen Victoria and Albert moved their summer residence to Balmoral on Deeside, high society followed them to newly fashionable Scotland. Landseer’s famous stag painting was copied everywhere:

The Monarch of the Glen by Sir Edwin Landseer

Landseer was many-sided, being a sculptor too, but he was also happy to feed the sentiments of his public with heroic images of rescuing dogs:

Saved! by Sir Edwin Landseer

In the 20^th century, paintings became almost unrecognizable but a few conservative artists carried on in their traditional fashion. One such was Sir Alfred Munnings, a friend of Winston Churchill, and his horse paintings are as good as any.

The Bramham Moor Foxhounds by Sir Alfred Munnings

SMD 

3.08.19 

 Text copyright Sidney Donald 2019