Pets on Paper: Cats and Dogs in Early Modern Europe

Leonardo da Vinci, keen observer of the natural world and major cat lover, said, “The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” Cats and dogs were as familiar in early modern Europe as they are today, providing in-house models and muses for artists. The surprising abundance of scholarship on pets depicted in art attests to their powerful impact on the imagination. Animals had long been depicted in natural history anthologies, but this rotation focuses on artistic renderings of such beasts rather than scientific studies of specimens. While domesticated animals were occasionally treated as the subject of a work, more often these creatures supported the artist’s larger iconographic, compositional or narrative goals.

At their most basic level, pets were portrayed as faithful and loving companions. Further, tamed animals and especially hounds also provided utility as hunters, variously aiding survival or sport. Additionally, popular literature such as fables featured canine and feline characters, often conveying a moralizing message through talking beasts that mimicked human actions. Artists also used cats and dogs as metaphors in religious and allegorical scenes. Typically, dogs symbolized loyalty while cats represented deceit; together, these foils embodied good versus evil. Yet due to the layering of iconographic meaning onto each creature over many centuries, we find cats and dogs variously represented as friend or foe, sacred or sinful, regal or scrappy. It was for the artist to choose from a bevy of specific, diverse meanings what applied to the pets they portrayed.

 

Elizabeth Simmons

PhD Student, University of Delaware