jordaens feels sympathy for an expecting mom, 1638

courtesy www.rijkmesum.nl

Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) was apprenticed to the same painter that taught Rubens.  Unlike Rubens, Jordaens stayed close to home in Antwerp, creating large history commissions and portraits.  Some of those portraits were of royalty.  Some humbler portraits were of dogs, like this one executed in red and black chalks in 1638.  Here Jordaens spent some time sketching a pregnant dog; the Rijksmuseum thinks she's probably a vizla, a Hungarian breed famed for hunting ability.