Italian School, 18th century, Portrait of a Puppy

Italian school, 18th century

Portrait of a puppy

Oil on canvas, 48 x 40 cm

Frame, 58 x 48 cm

This canvas depicts with extreme precision and attention to detail a small dog that, with some differences also due to the evolution of the species over the centuries, should be identified with the ancient dog breed of pugs. Originating in China and imported into Europe starting in the seventeenth century, these small animals were immediately considered excellent pets for noble or upper-middle-class families; the small size, the peculiarity of the breed and its exotic nature meant that pugs spread very quickly, starting to appear even in works of art. In addition to inspiring friendship, affection and loyalty, transmitted by the dogs depicted in works of art already in the past, the pug could also represent a sort of symbol, a rich accessory for noble ladies of high society, who were therefore willing to show off their pet in the privacy of their living room. In this case the dog becomes the absolute protagonist, without being accompanied by human figures or other background elements: the pug stands out against a dark background while a light from the left projects its shadow on the plane delimited by a curved border. The short, cream-colored fur, darker on the back and lighter on the abdomen, the curled tail and the small black ears cut, as was done before the nineteenth century, are typical of the species, as are the glassy eyes that are disproportionate in size compared to the short, rather squashed muzzle. The figure stands out with three-dimensionality and volume against the background, the chiaroscuro is attenuated, despite the bright cut, by an iridescent color of the fur created with uniformity and thicker brush strokes in certain places and with a lenticular care of each single tuft in others. The animalist painting to which the work belongs was more established in the Netherlands and, especially in England, but both artistic and cultural contacts became more frequent during the eighteenth century and brought this genre to Italy, where the canvas was painted and where the pug also began to spread among the upper classes, as demonstrated by the one portrayed by Giuseppe Maria Crespi together with his mistress; other testimonies come from artists from all over Europe demonstrating the international nature of the phenomenon: the examples of Goya, Boucher and Hogarth are just some of the many that could be cited.