Humanity’s dog obsession gets the art exhibition it richly deserves in Faithful and Fearless: Portraits of Dogs.
An all-consuming love of doggos, floofs, and heckin’ good boys may seem like a new phenomenon to the uninitiated, but our bond with our faithful canine friends has been steadfast for centuries. And whilst the method showing them off may have moved to the new medium of video and Instagrams, there’s a rich history of artists committing their beloved dogs to canvas. Bringing this art to the masses is a new exhibition called Faithful and Fearless: Portraits of Dogs, which heads to the Wallace Collection from October 14th.
See also: The very best art exhibitions to see in London this year.
It’s a brilliant excuse to dive into a longstanding tradition of portraiture, whilst also being a canny way of getting millennials more engaged in classical art. Portraits with Dogs will feature some fifty works, with the connecting thread being dogs – whether that be representations in small-scale sculptures, or life-size paintings which capture them in all their glory. Moving from antiquity to 21st-century works, you’ll be able to witness the changing representation of dogs throughout history.
Amongst the artists featured are Thomas Gainsborough, Edwin Landseer, and Rosa Bonheur, with pieces drawn both from the Wallace Collection’s own selection and from public collections around the UK. Tickets for the exhibition go on sale in the spring, and naturally we’ll keep you updated when they’re available.
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Also published on Medium.