The act of keeping pets is a long-standing tradition rooted in the usefulness of animals like dogs and cats for human survival. Over centuries, it developed into a treasured companionship.
This bond can be found in the earliest years of the V&A. Nestled in a corner of the John Madejski garden are commemorative plaques for two dogs, Jim and Tycho. Jim was the beloved Yorkshire Terrier of Sir Henry Cole, the V&A’s first Director, and Tycho was his son’s dog.
Whether they’re personal or commissioned, for centuries pet portraits have captured the relationship between humans and their pets.
Here are six examples from the V&A’s collections:
Gwen John (1876 – 1939) painted this delicate watercolour of a cat probably between 1904 and 1908. Sitting away from the viewer, the cat shows off his tortoiseshell pattern in a strong warm light, casting a shadow behind him.
John adored her cats, frequently drawing and painting them. This is probably her cat named Edgar Quinet, who appears in many of her works. When Edgar ran away she was devastated, writing poems inspired by her loss.
This painting was made in 1842 by the popular animal painter Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802 – 73). It is titled There’s No Place Like Home.
An early biographer of Landseer’s considers the dog to be gleefully recognising its home after becoming stray, facing us with an imploring glare, seemingly asking for food.
On closer inspection, we can a snail at the dog’s feet travelling away from the viewer. While the snail carries its home on its back wherever it goes, the dog is relieved to find his again.
This drawing is the last in a series depicting the nine lives of a cat by Louis Wain (1860 – 1939). Wain was a British artist known for his prolific career illustrating anthropomorphised cats.
Here, he humorously illustrates his own pet cat, Peter ‘the Great’, in a cat’s ninth life, happily lounging by a caged bird and ready to cause mischief. Wain later remarked, “To him properly belongs the foundation of my career, the development of my initial efforts, and the establishment of my work”.
The V&A devoted an exhibition to Wain’s work over the winter months of 1972 and 1973.
Pet portraits are not always two-dimensional. This life-sized marble Newfoundland stands on a decorative base in the British galleries, its paw squashing a writhing bronze serpent.
The first Earl of Dudley commissioned the unique sculpture to commemorate his favourite dog, although he died shortly before its completion in 1833. A dispute with the estate over payment left the work with its maker, Mathew Cotes Wyatt (1777 – 1862).
The sculpture’s quirky allure has proven popular with visitors, capturing the attention of many since it found its place at the museum.
The V&A holds the world’s largest collection of material from Beatrix Potter (1866 – 1943), a writer and farmer known for her children’s illustrations across the globe. The collection includes observational studies of her many pets, which she began making in her early childhood.
Here, she sketches a sleeping cat from many different angles. This study is particularly special because the cat at the bottom of the page has its eyes wide open, as if it has awoken to look directly into Potter’s eyes.
As one of the earlier (about 1690) depictions of a pet in the collection, this painting is also one of the most mysterious. While it may be easy to miss, in the darkly lit bottom right corner of this painting, the sitter is petting a cat on her lap.
With no knowledge of who the maker or the sitter is, we can only infer that the cat was very special to her because it was included in the portrait.
The painting became one of my favourite objects in the collection after I noticed this unexpected feature. There are so many oddities like this in the collection waiting to be uncovered.
If you want to discover more, many of the museum’s wonderful pet portraits can be found on display, viewed by request at the Prints and Drawings Study Room, or explored online via Explore the Collections.
