Like many of their generation in the south, Tonya and Larry Smith, both 69, commissioned oil paintings depicting each of their six grandchildren, the girls wearing frilly dresses, the boys in slacks. But only one portrait currently hangs in their Valdosta, Ga., home and its subject is naked.
“It’s so strange, because I never would have done this in the past. I don’t know what prompted us, but we did it,” Ms. Smith said of the painting she commissioned of their King Charles Spaniel, Rusty, who passed away in November.
Humans have long depicted animals in art: The horses, stags and aurochs of Lascaux Cave date back 17,000 years. But the transition from animal as subject to pet as subject — not just a cat but rather my cat — is more recent, said Dr. Julie Aronson, curator at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Starting with a few artists depicting pets in the 17th century, by the 19th century “there’s a greater emphasis on companion animals,” she said.
One of the best-known patrons of the art, Queen Victoria commissioned hundreds of lithographs, paintings and enamel miniatures of her dogs. And artists like George Stubbs built careers painting people’s horses. But today’s pet portraiture engages not just members of the economic and art world elite, but everyday people honoring their own Fidos and Fluffys.
