Animals have always featured in art. Our ancestors did cave paintings of horses, bison and deer. Classical artists used them as symbolism and allegories. Nowadays we can commission pet portraits or indulge in wildlife photography! It’s easy to overlook animals in art. Next time you visit a gallery, take a closer look and you’ll be surprised how commonplace they are, often adding deceptively more than just incidental decoration.
Here are three such examples from Dulwich Picture Gallery:
The Chaff Cutter, David Teniers the Younger (copyright: Dulwich Picture Gallery)
David Teniers the Younger’s The Chaff Cutter, 1610-1630 (right), portrays 17th century peasant life. The man is cutting straw into fine pieces (known as chaff, which is commonly used as fodder for livestock) most likely for the white horse in the picture. A saddle bag on the ground indicates that this is a working horse, and that the man may have just returned from a journey on horseback. The horse is already grazing on some hay. We see chicken, a key source of sustenance for the peasants, wandering around in the foreground. Birds nesting in the dovecote may have been kept for their flesh and eggs. Teniers was known for his paintings of peasant scenes and this is an example of an illustration of rural life, highlighting the strong interdependence between man and beast.
Les Plaisirs du Bal, Watteau (copyright: Dulwich Picture Gallery)
You could easily miss the dogs in this idyllic dance scene (left), Watteau’s Les Plaisirs du Bal, 1715-17. Imagine the little dog in the foreground was not there….the painting would lose something of its balance and compulsion. This cute grey creature helps draw the viewer’s eye to the spectacle of the dance. A small spaniel at heel to a lady drinking wine conveys her social standing. Spaniels appear in many paintings of this era, usually with their upper class owners. A hound to the rear of the scene appears purposefully rendered in a similar palette to the stone balustrade. This effect, coupled with the dog’s watchful demeanour as though he is on guard, suggest he may be connected with the grounds or estate in which the dance is being held. Overall, these canines add a hint of playfulness and informality to du Bal!
In Canaletto’s Old Walton Bridge, 1754 (below), swans give a sense of majesty about the river, and birds overhead draw attention to the gathering storm clouds. They help set the scene. To the left, the bull, free to roam the riverside, reminds us that this was a farming area. Indeed, Walton is thought to mean “farm of the Britons.” Horses draw a fine carriage hurriedly over the bridge, originally a wooden structure, completed just a few years before Canaletto painted it. Three well-dressed gentlemen and a spaniel stand to the right. The men are Thomas Hollis, who commissioned the painting, one of his friends, and a servant. The spaniel is Hollis’s dog. As in the Watteau painting, the spaniel conveys the social standing of its owner and in this case we know that Hollis was well-to-do. Canaletto’s clever use of animals and birds bring this painting to life and help communicate aspects of 18th century life and society.
Old Walton Bridge, Canaletto (copyright: Dulwich Picture Gallery)
