1910: portrait of wife and dog

Konrad Krzyżanowski [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In this 1910 portrait by the Polish Expressionist painter Konrad Krzyanowski, his wife and their dog are providing a painterly opportunity.  I've posed for my husband as he paints or draws me, and I well recognize that patient, purposeful stillness as she leans into the chair.  Speaking of the the chair, how curious that it dissolves into thin air around her, as though it was there to provide the idea of domesticity rather than hard evidence.  Meanwhile the family dog sits at alert, and probably has for several minutes on end at this point, because the Other Human He Loves is looking at him and paying attention to him.  Something I see frequently in discussions on pets is the statement "We don't deserve dogs," said in reference to the purity of their love.  I think the paleness of this image is a larger thematic play off that purity, reflecting this moment, these relationships.