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View at the museum ↗White Dog
Wenceslaus Hollar1649
- Attribution
- Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607-1677) after Adriaen Jacobz Matham (Dutch, 1599-1660)
- Medium
- Etching on ivory laid paper
- Physical dimensions
- Plate: 7.7 × 12.2 cm (3 1/16 × 4 13/16 in.); Sheet: 15.5 × 21.2 cm (6 1/8 × 8 3/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of James Wells
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Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Images of dogs in the early modern period could have allegorical or moral meanings or simply offer literal portraits. Wenceslaus Hollar’s profile study of a popular type of dog likely presents its sitter as a status symbol as well as someone’s pet. While the untamed lion-like mane could belong to a small poodle, this engraving is sometimes thought to represent a Bolognese dog, an Italian breed owned by and portrayed with members of the Gonzaga family in the sixteenth century and later idolized by Catherine the Great of Russia.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0