Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney

Delightful exhibition at the Wallace Collection of portraits of dogs.

I’d really been looking forward to this show as I have a soft spot for dogs in art and it didn’t disappoint.

It was cleverly divided up into categories of dogs from aristocratic ones, through allegorical ones, lap dogs, royal dogs and artists’ dogs. I love that it opened with a Roman statue of two dogs playing plus the addition of two stuffed dogs.

It was a bit heavy on Landseer but then he was a genius at dogs. I loved a wall of George Stubbs pictures and the last room of pictures by Hockney of his two dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie, which represented joy to him at a time when a number of friends were dying.

My favourite was Pilau, a performing dog by John Charlton. Pilau could do maths problems with their paws but was sadly killed in a road accident in Pisa.

Closes 15 October 2023


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