Thoughts on 'Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney' at The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection might have over-promised and under-delivered but that's not ALL. Let's talk about what it could have been ...

Jun 29, 2023

A picture of ‘A Scene at Abbotsford’ by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.

If there is one thing you need to know about me it’s that a few years ago I adjusted my expectations to a new (lower) standard. Was I measuring things with too high a bar? I’d like to think not, I’ve always been fair. And so, I now go about the world with this renewed sense of high hopes.

When I saw the poster for Portraits of Dogs, my eyes lit up in excitement. There are two art genres I will buy exhibition tickets for without second thought, 1. Dutch/Flemish still-life paintings and 2. Portraits of animals.

Oh boy…

Let’s set aside the fact that upon scanning my ticket I was told to go straight in without being offered the audioguide included in the ticket price, I rushed back out to get one while a lady pushing her way past me said: “Why would you need an audio guide?!”. To learn ma’am, to learn!

Headsets on and I press play for in-depth commentary on selected works in the collection. These were superb, filled with tidbits of information that make you look at a piece twice.

1. Why not include brief audio notes on most of the works?

I get it, it would slow down the flow of visitors, however for the £14 entry fee and being what I consider a medium-sized collection (The Wallace describes it as a “major exhibition”), guided commentary on 12 out of 50+ works seems idle.

And to answer that lady that barged into me asking, I assume rhetorically, “Why would you need an audio guide?!”, the truth is you don’t need one if you don’t want to, but assuming you bought the ticket because you're interested in art, you might as well learn a bit more about the pieces, why they came to be and any nuances art historians can provide as to the symbolism and meaning behind them.

Having said that, while watching an interview on Wes Anderson’s latest film ‘Asteroid City’. Actor Ruper Friend makes an interesting remark:

“I think, to be honest, all art is perhaps not really explainable, and that may be a definition of what art is. (…) For example, if you are in an art gallery, do you read the little card beside the painting and get more than you did just by being with the work? (…) I personally think the reason the painter painted the painting, is because there was no other medium in which to express themselves. So the little card or whatever else, is never going to be as powerful as the painting. The play is the play, the painting is the painting, the music is the music. (…) To not dissect it but to just experience it, may be the point.”

This was slightly taken out of context when he was saying that sometimes you don’t need to know more about an art piece, in this instance, what drew Wes Anderson to write a particular movie.

That brings me to the elephant in the room, Pliny the Elder’s quote accompanying this statue in the first room:

“Dogs are the only animals that will answer to their names, and recognise the voices of the family” - Natural History, Pliny the Elder

I have come to the conclusion that the curating team must have been grasping at straws for a good quote from the same century as the statue (1-2 AD) because the use of it makes no sense to me, especially when taken out of context and into modern times. Just a refresher for the die-hard dog fans, cats, chickens, parrots, and dolphins are just some of the animals that are known to answer to their names and are capable of recognising voices.

2. Why print a quote that might have once been true but no longer is?

Did the exhibition need a quote from the same century?
Was there a specific reason why it was used?
Could some visitors read it and take it at face value further mitigating the spread of misinformation?

A picture of ‘A Jack in Office’ by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.

The exhibition continues and the common thread is clear, the adoration for dogs is as old as time itself, or we wouldn’t have all these portraits to prove it. Incredibly large paintings of much-beloved dogs dotted around the rooms prove that getting a portrait painted of your pet is not such a bad idea after all.

The exhibition is made up of paintings, yes, portraits, yet there are also drawings, sculptures, and even two taxidermied dogs. However, there is one particular collection of artifacts that could have brought the whole exhibition together.

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Pair of ceramic Spaniels, Staffordshire Pottery, England. Public Domain.

If you follow any home design trends, you’ll have seen that vintage ceramics are as popular as ever. And in particular, Staffordshire dogs have been slowly coming back into the limelight, take Sarah Corbett-Winder’s impressive collection as an example.

“Staffordshire dogs were ceramics built to appeal to a mass working class audience (…) [and] were mainy confined to one or two breeds, which are a nod to royalty. Queen Victoria’s much-loved King Charles spaniel Dash and Prince Albert’s favourite greyhound Eos, provided the Staffordshire potters with suitably commercial dog role models.”
— Jane Audas, House & Garden1

You might be wondering why I bring them up, the answer is very simple. Considering they were modeled after the monarchy’s favourite breeds — paintings of which were heavily featured throughout the exhibition — Portraits of Dogs would have been the perfect excuse to showcase a curated collection of some rare pieces that might not be on display elsewhere, further accentuating their cult status as the British ceramic icon they are.

“Staffordshire has been the center of ceramic production in Great Britain since the early 17th century and its porcelain has reached popularity on the global stage and market. The county has made a historical mark for itself within the pottery industry because of its prolific production.”
— Kristina Gyllenberg Holst, Barnebys.com2

So, the question remains, would you visit the exhibition? Have you visited? What are your thoughts? I’m eager to know.

High ☁ Hopes