Dog Paintings at the Louvre

The resident canines at Artsology are Theo the Art Dog and his sidekick, Violet the Expressionist Pup. They were quite disappointed when they arrived at the entrance to the Louvre in Paris only to find out that they wouldn't be allowed in the museum. "If people can appreciate paintings of people, why can't dogs go in and appreciate paintings of dogs?", they wondered.

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Here's a look at "Supper at Emmaus," by Paolo Veronese, painted in 1559. As you can see, Jesus is seated at a table surrounded by people as he is about to break bread. The dog in the painting gets a prominent placement, front and center in front of Jesus. I'd say this dog (seen in detail in the next picture) gets star treatment in this painting!

Let's check out another painting by Paolo Veronese at the Louvre, as he's up to some of his same compositional tricks in relation to Jesus and dogs. This painting, "The Wedding Feast at Cana" from 1563, shows Jesus at a wedding banquet at which he converts water to wine. There's a lot of people in this painting, but if you look closely in the center, just below the marble balustrade (or, in other terms, the low railing), is Jesus with a halo around his head. If you look below, again in the center, you'll see two dogs in front of him, which you can see in the detail in the next picture.

The artist Titian also painted the Bible story of "Supper at Emmaus," with this version painted circa 1530 - 1535. The number of people in this painting is quite a few less than what Veronese later painted, but Titian also puts a dog near the feet of Christ. This one, however is squaring off with a cat (behind the table leg to the left), compared to Veronese's dog which is being adored by the two girls.

This painting by Bernat Martorell (1400-1452) is considered to be one of 6 panels that originally made up an altarpiece executed by Martorell for a chapel dedicated to Saint George, patron Saint of Catalonia, located in northeastern Spain. In the panel at the Louvre, shown at far left, you can see a sleeping dog at the foot of the central figure. This panel is titled "The Proconsul Dacian Sentencing Saint George," circa 1435. There's a detail of the dog - a breed I certainly don't recognize - shown at right below.

Our last example of dog paintings at the Louvre is going to showcase a painting where the dogs are in the starring role, not as supporting figures as they've been in the paintings above. Pictured below is "Two Hunting Dogs Tied to a Stump," 1548, by the Italian painter Jacopo Bassano, who lived from 1510-1592. I think Theo the Art Dog and Violet the Expressionist Pup would have liked this one best.