Dogs in The Metropolitan Museum: A Collection of Artworks Depicting Man's Best Friend

Dogs are often considered to be man's best friend. They are loyal, loving, and protective of their owners. Many people see dogs as family members and not just as pets. Dogs have been depicted in art since ancient times. They have been featured in paintings, sculptures, and even coins. Many people see dogs as having great art value because of their emotional connection to humans. The Metropolitan Museum has a number of artworks that depict dogs. The museum's collection includes a wide range of dog-related art.

Pierced Jug with Harpies and Sphinxes

    This intricate feat of pottery emulates a metal object.
    The openwork - featuring Harpies (mythical birdwomen), Sphinxes, quadrupeds (four-footed mammals), and scrolls - was first painted with touches of black and cobalt blue.
    The Persian verses around the rim were written by the poet Rukn al-Din Qummi, and an anonymous love poem near the base includes the date of production.

A Woman with a Dog

    This painting belongs to a celebrated group of Fragonard's known as the fantasy figures.
    The canvas is broadly brushed, with exceptional virtuosity, panache, and a sense of speed.
    The model has recently been identified as the aristocratic salon hostess Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716 - 1806).
   Her costume recalls the court dress of Queen Marie de Medicis (1573 - 1642) in Rubens's famous series of paintings (Musee du Louvre, Paris) which Fragonard had occasion to study in
   There is humor in the contrast between the sample proportions of the lady and the small size of her lapdog; the curl of his silky tail echoes her gray ringlets

Box with Romance Scenes

    This coffret illustrated with scenes from Arthurian and other courtly literature of the Middle Ages is one of the most imposing examples to survive.
    The lid represents the assault on the metaphorical fortress, Castle of Love, with a tournament and knights catapulting roses.
    The left end depicts Tristan and Isolde spied upon by King Mark, and a hunter killing a unicorn trapped by a virgin.
    The right end shows a knight rescuing a lady from the Wildman (Wodehouse), and Galahad receiving the key to the castle of maidens.
    At the back are Lancelot and the lion, Lancelot crossing the sword bridge, Gawain asleep on the magic bed, and the maidens welcoming their deliverer.
    The newly discovered front panel (1988.16), lost since before 1800, is a poignant depiction of the love tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe (two scenes at right) and Aristotle teaching Alexander the Great and Phyllis riding on the back of Aristotle (two scenes at left).

A Huntsman and a Peasant Woman by the Isar River with a View of Munich

    This picture exemplifies Kobell's small, jewel-like Begegnungsbilder, or "encounter pictures," which depict meetings between peasants, mounted horsemen, or gentry, usually in scenic locales in the southeast German region of Bavaria.
    Here, a hunter and his dog (a Riesenbracke) appear alongside a small boy and a young peasant woman who wears the traditional costume of the region around Munich.
    Behind them is a sweeping view across the banks of the Isar River toward the city's skyline.
   Kobell made a companion painting to this one, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Parochialstrasse in Berlin

    Gaertner is best known for chronicling the rapidly modernizing Berlin cityscape.
    This relatively intimate view, culminating in the city's oldest church, the Nikolaikirche, illustrates earlier modes of urban life with evident affection.
    Two other versions of the composition are known:one is in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the other was destroyed during the Second World War.

The New Bonnet

    This work, the last the artist exhibited at the National Academy of Design, exemplifies his gently moralizing approach to genre painting.
    In a setting influenced by the established formulas of seventeenth-century Dutch masters, Edmonds contrasts the daughter's extravagant purchase with the faults of her disapproving parents.

María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain

    Mazo was Velázquez's assistant and son-in-law, having married his daughter Francisca in 1633.
    María Teresa, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and his first queen, Isabel de Borbón, was portrayed by Mazo when she was seven years old.
    In 1660 the Infanta married her cousin Louis XIV and became Queen of France.

The Villa Loredan, Paese