sutton059

https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_4859 PD Whomever Colonel Ladislav Szent Ivanyi was, his dog was not only very fine, but knew how to offer a flower most winsomely.  This oil portrait by an unknown painter, dated 1756, seems to have been painted to commemorate Ivanyi's engagement to Barbara Horvath.  That's me interpreting Google Translate for Latin to English, so beware.  Is the dog offering him a flower in congratulations or to symbolize his felicitous event? Probably both.

https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_4917 PD Before photographs were readily available to stuff in wallets and pockets, people often kept beloved faces close through tiny paintings.  Someone in Slovakia around 1800 - 1825 had this particular face immortalized in gouache on cardboard, measuring only 6.8 x 5.6 cm.  Portrait miniatures would be a charming fashion to revive.

thanks pixabay (cat is a model, i don't have to feed this one) (thank goodness) IN HONOUR OF TAFFY TOPAZ TAFFY, the topaz-coloured cat, Thinks now of this and now of that, But chiefly of his meals. Asparagus, and cream, and fish, Are objects of his Freudian wish; What you don't give, he steals. His gallant heart is strongly stirred By clink of plate or flight of bird, He has a plumy tail; At night he treads on stealthy pad As merry as Sir Galahad A-seeking of the Grail. His amiable amber eyes Are very friendly, very wise; Like Buddha, grave and fat, He sits, regardless of applause, And thinking, as he kneads his paws, What fun to be a cat! --  Morley, Christopher, 1890-1957.  Songs for a Little House.  New York: George H. Doran co, 1917. p. 25.

www.rijksmuseum.nl http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.7386 Coenraad van Heemskerck is portrayed here in all his stateliness, thanks to Dutch painter Mattheus Verheyden .  Van Heemskerck was a diplomat and politician,  Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and Lord of Achttienhoven and Den Bosch.  Last but not least, he had this very happy dog:

Nissin Seifun is a large Japanese food conglomerate that includes a line of pet food.  In 2010 the company celebrated 100 years of business in a most delightful way: they commissioned a commercial from Studio Ghibli. Yes, the source of My Friend Totoro , Kiki's Delivery Service , Spirited Away , and Howl's Moving Castle , to name a very few of their masterworks. Studio Ghibli presented Nissin Seifun with Konyara, a rotund cat sketched in a sumi-ink style, rolling round after Nissin's red butterfly logo. The spot was such a hit that two more were made adding some rolypoly kittens into the mix.  All three are elegantly adorable.  Want to see them?  All three are available in this article at Open Culture . Want to see the company's page on Konyara, complete with some sweet wallpapers for download?  Right here .

www.metmuseum.org Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, 1992 This terracotta relief shows a royal family taking their ease in the company of a few pets. There's mother, father, child, tubby dog having a howl (lower left, on a chain), ducks (lower right) and, partially missing, a monkey (just above the dog).  Expressive and even playful, this scene dates from India during the 1st century BC, and was found at the important Chandraketugarh archaeological site.  ( Here is this object's page at the Metropolitan Museum of Art if you'd enjoy more source information.)  What sort of dog might have been around to pamper at that time and place? Sometimes the easiest answer makes the best sense: this looks to me like a well-fed Indian pariah dog , an ancient breed which would have been commonly available. 

www.rijksmuseum.nl (PD) https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-OB-16.632 This strong, playful image of two hedgehogs meeting over an ivy leaf dates from - hold on to your hat - 1892.  It's by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof (Dutch, 1866-1924), one of the more important figures in Dutch Art Nouveau. You'll spot a theme when I tell you that the Dutch variant of Art Nouveau was called Nieuwe Kunst; both titles mean "New Art."  In Germany it was called Jugendstil, "youth style," and in Austria, Sezessionstil ("Secession style," that is, created by artists who had seceded from accepted art styles).There's a lot going on in the ideas behind Art Nouveau, and you might enjoy reading more about it on this very informative page .  Where I feel it begins is in its drive toward making even everyday useful things beautiful, in its celebration of sinuous lines, and not least in its delight in natural forms, as we see here.  This seems to have been a vignette ...