saint hugh's friends

thanks vintage printable (PD)

In an account of the Carthusian monks of Somerset, we learn this about the 12th-century Saint Hugh of Lincoln:

Like many another deeply religious man, St. Hugh had unbounded love to all living things. As at Villarbenoit, his care to serve his brethren had led to his being intrusted with the charge of his aged father, so now he was appointed to attend to all the personal wants of an old monk, who in return seems to have looked after his spiritual welfare. But his love did not show itself to his fellow-men only; it condescended also to the smaller beings of creation. The saint could find some solace for his combats with the evil one by taming the little birds and squirrels of that wild neighbourhood to come into his cell, where, during his meals, they would eat at his table, feeding out of his dish or from his hand. The stern Prior, however, forbade him even this one amusement, lest he should take too much pleasure in his dumb friends and allow them to interrupt his devotions. It was not till he got to Witham that he could indulge his affection for animals; there for three years a pet bird lived in his cell, taking its flight at nesting-time and returning later on with its fledgings as if to present them to him; but in the fourth year it came back no more, to his great vexation. Again, when Bishop of Lincoln, an unusually fine swan attached itself to him, showing as much affection for him as a dog.

One of Hugh's attributes is a swan, not surprisingly.  This great blog post will tell you all about Hugh and his buddy.

The excerpt is from: Thompson, E. Margaret. (1895). A history of the Somerset Carthusians. London: J. Hodges. 51-2.

pet owl 1942

Museum Victoria Collections
http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/770100
Accessed 30 January 2016. PD

In the district of Nathalia, Victoria, Australia, a lucky boy holds his pet owl.  I'd smile like that if I had an owl friend too.  This 1942 snap comes from the Museum Victoria Collections and is part of "The Biggest Family Album in Australia."  This is a special collection that gathered over 9000 family photos, creating an intimate look at the history and culture of Australia through the everyday lives of its people.  Here's an article on this wonderful project.

spaniel and terrier

thanks the-athenaeum.org (PD US)

Not a fancy title for this oil painting by Samuel Fulton (Scottish, 1855-1941), and none needed.  Fulton's work consists primarily of dog portraits in a brushy academic style that breathes subtle life into the image. Most seem to have this level of one on one (ahem, two on one here) immediacy, as though he took time to know each dog and put it at however much ease he could.

victorian dog shows

thanks karenswhimsy

Today I'm going to send you straight over to History Extra magazine for a fine article on the surprising history of Victorian dog shows.  Identity fraud, the physical turpitude of the lapdog, and jockeying for show primacy - it's all here.  Best in Show, 1860's edition!
Bonus find!  The significance of the British bulldog.

a bit more buffon on the cat

thanks karenswhimsy.com

 Yesterday I showed you a couple of cats from one edition of the Comte de Buffon's grand Natural History, and they tickled me so that I thought I'd look up some of his observations on the feline.  He had many (he had many on everything).  This is what I like this morning:

* * *

M. Pasumot of the  academy at Dijon, has communicated to me a  letter on this subject; he says, "Although the cat sleeps seldom, it is very sound, and might sometimes be considered as a kind of lethargy.  1 have had at least ten instances; a favourite cat used to lay upon the feet of my bed; one
night I pushed him away, but found him so immoveable that I conceived him to be dead. I pulled and tossed him about for some time before he shewed any kind of life, when at last he began to awake, but it was even then very slowly. This sound sleep, and difficulty of awaking cats, I have often observed; and I am acquainted with a gentleman who has also been witness of their sleeping in this sound manner, and which he says is always at the time of great heat, or previous to stormy weather."
M. de Lestrie, a merchant of Chalons, in Champagne, has remarked to me, that the breath of cats frequently exhales an odour resembling musk; particularly when they purr and are tranquil, or when suddenly alarmed and make a hissing noise, from which he inclines to conclude that there are some vessels in the breast of a cat filled with an aromatic quality; but nothing of this nature is to be discovered by anatomy.
* * *

Cats full of cat-perfume!  I could squeeze them all over me like cologne!

Buffon, G. Louis Leclerc. (17971807). Buffon's Natural history: containing a theory of the earth, a general history of man, of the brute creation, and of vegetables, minerals, &c. &c. London: Printed for the Proprietor, and sold by H. D. Symonds. 16.

sauvage vs domestique

thanks wikimedia commons (PD)

From Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon's great 36-volume work Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (published over the years 1749 - 88, this probably from the "Deux-ponts" edition of 1785-91 according to this source), here is a scientific look at the Wild Cat (top) compared to the Domestic Cat.  As near as I can tell, the major difference in appearance is that our Domestique friend has a nice smile, while the Sauvage scowls and is a little raggedy of pelt.

a little sick leave

Hi friends.  I've been behind on posting as a number of creatures in the Museum household need my special tending right now:  one human with a bad cold, and Eliz, above, is overgrooming herself like crazy.  I think she doesn't like the new dry food I bought at the vet two weeks ago.  So I'm trying to keep her away from that, while still feeding the other two (remember we live in a very small house).  I am also trying to give her loads of special attention so she won't spend so much of her free time licking her hair off.

This leaves little (?) miss Kat Von D feeling most unappreciated...as below.

OH, the work.  That belly will not pet itself.  Anyway, wish me luck, and I'll be back in a day or two.

downward (spout) dog

image credit: princeton university art museum (PD)

Somehow this Roman terracotta downspout managed to make it through two millennia relatively unscathed.  What strong and beautiful modelling.  While Roman sculpture was in general stylistically based on that of the Greeks, Romans were more willing to create individualized portraits rich in character.  I'm not saying this was anyone's particular dog, though if it was they were lucky to have him.  What I do see is that the sculptor has gone to some trouble to create lavish if stylized fluff on chest, cheek and ears (those scratchable ears!), and a face all attention and doggy thought.  If he trotted by now, you'd know him.
P.S.: You might like to read this interesting page on animals in ancient Rome.

Princeton University Art Museum info:  Roman. Waterspout in the form of a hound, early 1st century A.D.  Terracotta.  h. 44.5 cm., l. 63.0 cm., w. 48.0 cm. (17 1/2 x 24 13/16 x 18 7/8 in.)
Museum purchase, gift of John B. Elliott, Class of 1951.  y1989-51

vintage wordless wednesday

thanks noun in pdx. i own this.

a mouse's dazzling morsel

The Walters Art Museum,  Gift of Mrs. Leslie Legum, 1991

There's a diamond in that golden spoon, and that mouse (he's silver) has his beady eye upon it.  If you were a well-dressed, well-off gent in 1870s England, you might have selected this to be the perfect stick pin for your tie.

telugu cats

"The cat wishes to see your eyes out, and the dog wishes to see you have children."
If you're a Telugu speaker, you know why already. If not, you'll see the sense of it: you'll slop the food about and the kids will feed them anyway, so both pets will be well fed! So of course each wants you in a position to their own advantage.
Those dog proverbs from a couple of days ago tickled my fancy so much I went back for cat proverbs and was not disappointed. Look!

- When they tied a waist cord of prawns round the cat's loins it went a little way and then ate up the whole. (Said of someone who doesn't appreciate the honors conferred.)
- Like a cat shutting her eyes, and fancying that no one could see her drinking the milk. (Someone thinks they are invisible when doing wrong.)
- Kill a cat, kill a Brahman. (Both equally sinful. Cats must have gotten a better rep than dogs.)
- A cat (is as sacred as) a Brahman, and the stool (used for prayers) is as sacred as his wife. (Wait, what?)
- Going to a marriage with a cat under your arm. (Disregarding the social niceties - for some reason, cats are bad luck at weddings.)

- Carr, M. W. d. 1871. (1868). A collection of Telugu proverbs. Madras: Printed and sold at the Christian knowledge society's press, pp. 255-6

two pretty creatures

thanks brooklyn museum (PD via wikimedia ommons)

Here's a sweet young thing, hair and gown fluffy and flowing, romping with a pet.  At first glance it all seems so innocent, and I'm sure it is.  Yet "The Squirrel" (circa 1896), intimate as it is, still has a feel of presentation, of greater purpose.  This doesn't surprise me, as Sir James Jebusa Shannon (English, born American, 1862-1923) was well-known for society portraits.  When most everything you create is meant to shore up a persona, it must be a hard habit to break.  Was it a lucky accident that this pretty girl, with all her future to arrange before her in whatever limited fashion permitted, had a pet squirrel?  Squirrels are known for their diligence in planning for the winter, and have been thought also to symbolize flirtatiousness, even voraciousness.  Not that this is a bad mix, depending on the squirrel.

hand rearing your rats, 1908

thanks reusableart.com

Marshall Saunders, 1908: in the course of writing up memories of his beloved birds, he takes a moment to recall a family of young rats trapped in the basement, and how they were trained up to be cute, fun friends for all . . .
* * *
...we spent the evening in making a trap for the rats (-- older rats had killed a pet rabbit - curator) but I fancy they watched us while we were doing it, and we, of course, caught none of them. We did catch some young ones, however, and the five tiny things looked so innocent as they sat in their trap that I could not make up my mind to have them killed, and took the cage up to my father’s study. “Suppose we keep them,” I suggested, “ and train them—make them friendly with the young rabbits and pigs and birds.”
“Suppose we do,” he said; and leaving his books, he descended to the aviary with me, and together we rigged a big cage against one of the brick walls. There the rat babies could look at my pets, and get acquainted with them.
Young rats are really pretty creatures. These little ones had white breasts, pink paws, shell-like, whitish ears, black whiskers, and bright, black eyes. They slept all day in a brown box at the top of their big cage. This box looked something like a pulpit, and, if roused, they would lean over their pulpit, holding on by their pink paws, their beady eyes seeming to say, “What do you want? We don’t like to play till night comes.”
One day one of them became ill, and lay under the straw at the bottom of the cage for some time. It was almost human to see the way in which he would stretch one little pink paw from under the straw, and feebly move it to and fro.
When these young rats were partly grown we caught two tiny ones and put in with them. The newcomers were very anxious to get up in the brown box, and tried climbing up hand over hand, or rather paw over paw toward it. The big ones amused themselves by leaning out of the box and pushing them down. I gave the little ones a tangle of wool to sleep in on the bottom of the cage, and two or three days later the older ones relented, and allowed them to climb up to sleep in the box.

-- from Saunders, M. (1908). My pets; real happenings in my aviary. Toronto: The Ryerson Press. 71-2.

"if you assume the disguise of a dog, you must bark"

thanks karenswhimsy.com

. . . That's a proverb in Telugu meaning "if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound."  Telugu is the fourth most spoken language on the Indian subcontinent (behind Hindi, Bengali, and Punjabi).  Dogs show up in Telugu proverbs primarily as warnings against having no common sense, or consorting with the low:
For the bite of a dog, a slap with a slipper is the cure. (Proper punishment for a slanderer.)
All the teeth that a dog gets are crooked. (Said of a man who spoils everything he touches.)
All that a dog brings is filth. (The nature of the beast.)
If you poke a stick into a dog's mouth, it will snap.  (No kidding.)
When the dog went to the fair he was beaten with the scale-beam (A vain fellow will be taken down a peg.)
If you kiss a dog, it licks your whole face. (The result of encouraging low people.)

These seem to show a want of sympathy for the creature, and yet the Telugu also said...
The sin of killing a dog cannot be expiated even by building a temple.

- Carr, M. W. d. 1871. (1868). A collection of Telugu proverbs. Madras: Printed and sold at the Christian knowledge society's press, pp. 115-6.

No real post today

Hi Museum friends,
I must apologize, but I'm simply too blindsided by learning of David Bowie's passing to come up with anything meaningful this morning.  Bowie was a big part of my youth, and part of the reason I grew up loving inquiry, culture, and the new and strange.  Right now I'm listening to "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars," the very first LP I ever bought by myself with money I earned from my first job (as a library page, natch).
I will see you tomorrow.

juggernaut

image copyright and by kindest permission of the artist

A bird dog doing what it loves best:  finding the wily upland flier.  Often the dog wins; often the bird wins.  To the dog, it's all about the intensity of the moment, as you can see in this portrait detail of Ch. Bandit Juggernaut by Spokane artist Viza Arlington.  This piece was created by etching, aquatint and drypoint, a layering of texture that creates a feeling of intimate depth.  This gives me the same feel as a George Stubbs dog portrait in its balance of muscle and soul.
We've had the pleasure of Viza's work before at the Museum (a charming woodcut portrait of Murphy the cat).  She clearly has an expert hand at portraying the personality of a creature via many different techniques.  I'll send you back to her Etsy shop to see the full scope of her talents.

matouenpeluche!

image copyright and by kindest courtesy of the artist

Samantha Battersby of matouenpeluche is a Pet Museum favorite.  Here's a piece from her Etsy shop that immediately reminded me of the Walt Whitman line "I am large, I contain multitudes."  (Song of Myself)  It's titled "Galaxy Cat."  Aren't they all galaxies unto themselves?
Battersby has a velvet finish to her images that powerfully evokes the feel of the creature's fur.  Simply by looking, your fingertips tingle with anticipation.  Since "Galaxy Cat" was done in charcoal and pastel, two media which lend themselves to tactile working, this seems only right.
Don't forget to check out the matouenpeluche blog and website, too.

wordless vintage wednesday

thanks noun in pdx

and this poem started off so well

thanks felineaddiction.com

Remember how amused - and bemused - I always am by 19th-century moralizing poetry?  Here's another morsel that escalates quickly. . .

A LITTLE BOY AND HIS CAT.
Once Freddy was heard very gravely to say
To his favourite Cat, who went to him to play,

"They tell me, dear Pussy, you're cruel to mice;
That you catch them and eat them all up in a trice;
But surely, my Pussy, that cannot be true;
Indeed, if I thought so, I could not love you.
Only think now, dear Puss, should old Growler come in
And bite off your head, tear your pretty soft skin,
What pain you would suffer, and how I should grieve,
I should always hate Growler, I really believe;
So I beg, my dear Cat, whilst with me you remain,
If so cruel you've been, you'll not do it again."

From Cato; or, T. adventures of a dog., by A Lady. (1825). Easy rhymes for children from five to ten years of age: with eight engravings. London: John Harris, St. Paul's Church-Yard. 2-3. 

meow and wife

Blog friend Strange Company routinely stumps me with primo vintage finds.  Today I'm going to send you over there, and back to June of 2015, for a story I managed to miss first time round:

Wisconsin, 1901:  Miss Wagoner marries a Maltese.

(To be fair, she had her reasons. - Curator)

a sizable friend

Elisabeth Modell [PD: US], via Wikimedia Commons

Elisabeth Modell (often referred to as Elise Modell; Austrian, 1820-65) ought to be better known, if this work is any indication.  Here is her "Portrait of Baroness Trent-Turcati with Dog," 1856.  I can't seem to find any reference to a Baroness Trent-Turcati, other than a Virginie Alberti von Poja, born in May 1822, who in September 1846 married Simon, Baron de Trent Turcati, retired advisor to the Austrian regency.  This isn't a 34-year-old woman.  Who is she?  I spent way too much time on that question when what attracted me was the juxtaposition of the massive dog with this slight girl, who sit together with trust and peace.  The dog's coat contains the same warm browns and russets as the landscape, as if he was its embodiment.