"flattery"

From Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864):

FLATTERY
"Men call you dog; now tell me why,"
A little girl said; in reply
Diogenes said, smiling at her,
"My child! how wickedly men flatter!"

After this tart little left-handed compliment on dogs, you will not be surprised to learn that the Encyclopedia Britannica's entry on Landor practically leads with "Educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Oxford, Landor spent a lifetime quarreling with his father, neighbours, wife, and any authorities at hand who offended him."
--Poem from Leonard, R. M. Poems On Animals. London: Humphrey Milford, 1915, p. 87.

the book collector and his feline friends

Dewitt Miller (American, 1857-1911) was wholly a man of letters.  An educator, speaker, and minister, he is perhaps best known as a book collector.  Like many (most?) of us book enthusiasts, he had a soft spot for cats.  Here's what his friend Leon Vincent recalls:

Other animals besides those of the human  race were the objects of Miller's benevolence. He delighted in parrots, squirrels, cats, and dogs, and had a profound respect for a horse. I well remember his satisfaction when the high-bred Angora cat that dwelt at the Glen jumped on his knee for the first time of its own accord; he had not looked for so great an honor. His face beamed as he stroked the little creature's head with his ample hand. They made a comical pair of comrades, Miller being so very large and the cat so exceedingly small.
Two or three of his cat-friends always received at Christmas time postal money-orders (made out in the name of their respective masters), to the end that they might properly celebrate the day with extra portions of cream or chunks of liver. On the occasion of his last visit to Boston he insisted on leaving fifty cents to buy holiday meats for the cat that guards the Old South book-shop.
What a charming way to be remembered.

- from Vincent, Leon H. 1859-1941. Dewitt Miller. Cambridge: Printed at the Riverside press, 1912. pp. 134-5.

all souls' day: a memorial for jock, 1893

OUR DOG JOCK
A rollicksome frolicsome rare old cock
As ever did nothing was our dog Jock;
A gleesome, fleasome, affectionate beast,
As slow at a fight, as swift at a feast;
A wit among dogs, when his life 'gan fail,
One couldn't but see the old wag in his tale,
When his years grew long and his eyes grew dim,
And his course of bark could not strengthen him.
Never more now shall our knees be pressed
By his dear old chops in their slobbery rest,
Nor our mirth be stirred at his solemn looks,
As wise, and as dull, as divinity books.
Our old friend 's dead, but we all well know
He 's gone to the Kennels where the good dogs go,
Where the cooks be not, but the beef-bones be,
And his old head never need turn for a flea.
Attributed to "Payn" (possibly James Payn), in Leonard, R. M. (Robert Maynard). The Dog In British Poetry. London: D. Nutt, 1893. p. 193.

a cat guards a sketchbook

courtesy of Wellcome Collection, CC_BY

1859:  Emily M. Madden opens her sketchbook, which she will fill with drawings of the cat Mouton, his (?) friends and his adventures.  And since it's his book, Emily thought he'd want to make sure everyone knew.  "This is my book.  Miau-u-u!" This is all I know about Mouton and Emily, but I could not pass either of them by this morning.

a dog watches

Gift of Arnold Whitcomb Morse in memory of his parents Guilford Alden and Isabel Barton Morse
collections.artsmia.org (PD)

A little boy, wearing the dress-like children's clothing of the time (c. 1835), listens to a ticking watch.  The family dog watches over him with an alert expression, or at least that's what I think he was meant to do; in a larger view you can see that he actually seems to be behind the boy, and so he's actually looking offstage.  It's all part of the charm of this simply fashioned oil portrait by Samuel Miller of Boston, about whom there's not much available.  In its flatness, the portrait also takes on a certain timelessness, which becomes more poignant when we learn that the act of listening to the watch likely indicates this as a posthumous portrait (see the painting's page at the Minneapolis Institute of Art).  The same bright yellow picks out the watch, its chain, and the dog's collar.  Did Miller mean us to contrast how quickly time flies with the patient devotion of the dog? 

and here is southey reporting on a stork

thanks publicdomainpictures.net

In the last post I shared Robert Southey's letter home from Leyden, at the end of which he takes care to check on the family cats.  Most of that letter describes the friendship between his host's son, Lodowijk, and a young stork that fetched up in the family garden:
* * *
. . . I must tell you about his stork. You should know that there are a great many storks in this country and that it is thought a very wicked thing to hurt them. They make their nests, which are as large as a great clothes basket, upon the houses and churches, and frequently, when a house or church is built, a wooden frame is made on the top for the storks to build in. Out of one of these nests a young stork had fallen and somebody wishing to keep him in a garden cut one of his wings. The stork tried to fly, but fell in Mr. Bilderdijk's garden and was found there one morning almost dead; his legs and his bill had lost their color and were grown pale, and he would have died if Mrs. Bilderdijk, who is kind to everybody and everything, had not taken care of him. . . . She gave him food and he recovered. The first night they put him in sort of a summerhouse in the garden, which I cannot describe to you for I have not been there myself; the second night he walked to the door himself that it might be opened to him. He was very fond of Lodowijk and Lodowijk was as fond of his "oyevaar" (which is the name for stork in Dutch, though I am not sure that I have spelled it right) and they used to play together in such a manner that his father says it was a pleasure to see them; for a stork is a large bird, tall and upright, almost as tall as you are or quite. The oyevaar was a bad gardener; he ate snails, but with his great broad foot he did a great deal of mischief, and destroyed all the strawberries and many of the vegetables. But Mr. and Mrs. Bilderdijk did not mind this because theoyevaar loved Lodowijk and therefore they loved the oyevaar, and sometimes they used to send a mile out of town to buy eels for him when none could be had in Leyden.

-- Colson, Elizabeth. Children's Letters: a Collection of Letters Written to Children by Famous Men And Women. New York: Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, 1905. pp. 64-5.

butterfly kite

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Friends of Arthur B. Duel
https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/207663?position=106

Only 8 5/8 x 7 5/16 in., this surimono print by Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780-1850) is a little treat of a print.  As it happens, that's what surimono prints were meant to be; they're specially commissioned images for a private group.  They might be a gift, or an announcement; they were not available to the general public.  This "Cat and Butterfly," from around 1825, is from Hokkei's series A Collection of Thirty-Six Birds and Animals (Sanjûroku tori zukushi).  Oftentimes surimono contained poetry, and were commissioned by the poets.  If that's the case here, and if that calligraphy above is a poem, I wish I could find a translation.  Whose kitten got to play with a butterfly kite?

I have not been able to find all 36 prints in one place to show you, but I'd like you to see a few more.  Have a look at:

a monkey with a toy dog

sparrows and a basket

a doe with her fawn

a dog for your matches

Dog in Feathered Hat and Ruffled Collar Matchsafe, late 19th century; England;
silver; 5.9 x 2.7 x 1.5 cm (2 5/16 x 1 1/16 x 9/16 in. ); Gift of Stephen W. Brener and Carol B. Brener; 1982-23-1324
collection.cooperhewitt.org

Before matchbooks were common (they were developed in 1892), here's how you carried around your matches.  Friction matches - the kind we know, that you scratch against a surface to ignite - were originally very touchy, and could light up simply from jostling about in your pocket.  What better to keep them safe than a metal box?  I wonder if any ever lit up inside their box and made an inadvertent handwarmer.  If you'd like to learn more about matchsafes, you might enjoy this site on their history.

This box dates from late 19th century England.  The additional images found at its record page at the Cooper-Hewitt show a dog dressed up in Cavalier-style hat and ruff.  Is this meant to be a Cavalier King Charles spaniel?  

the roommate

www.rijksmuseum.nl, , J.W.E. vom Rath Bequest, Amsterdam

According to this artwork's page at the Rijksmuseum, when business heir Edwin vom Rath's (Dutch; 1863-1940) parents both passed away he lived in the family mansion with only his pug for company.  Here's a watercolor portrait of the pug by Dutch painter Conradijn Cuneaus circa 1890-95, and I must say this pup does look like good company. Vom Rath's family had built a fortune from their sugar business; he himself remained unmarried and childless, and was a generous patron to Amsterdam's cultural scene.

cool old cat illustration

from british library flickr (PD)

This cat is serious.  He may be only a piece of decorative embellishment in a 19th century novel* but he is going to do his damned best at it, sir. 

*From p. 115 of "Jardyne's Wife. A Novel, etc." (Etc.? - curator) (London: Trischler and Co., 1891).

a beautiful puss in boots

digitalcollections.nypl.org 1704515 (no known copyright)

Walter Crane (English; 1845-1915) was one of the most important illustrators of children's literature in the late 19th century.  A student of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he chose natural forms presented in a tidied, romantic fashion.  In this opening page from the tale of Puss in Boots, Crane chose a background of traditional village occupations and its intersection with wildlife.  The Arts and Crafts Movement chose this as a way to turn popular visuals away from industrialization and a resulting decline in beauty and human values, and back toward honest craft and the environment.  Learn more about Walter Crane and see more of his lyrical and rich work here.

Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Puss in boots" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/6c7f0ada-1804-0ff1-e040-e00a18065957

chicken of peace

thanks wikimedia commons (PD)

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" That's the King James version of the German verse above, Psalm 133:1.  This painted window, part of a larger one featuring the reforming theologian Johannes Brenz,  is found at the Evangelical Lutheran church of Ravensburg, Germany.  The church has a page (in German only, alas) on its history.  I've been looking for any specific tie between this verse and the hen with her egg, and the best I can do is suggest that just as the hen shelters her egg, so may we all shelter under divine protection together.  The window dates from the 19th century and seems to have been designed by Gustav Konig.

vintage dog license application

Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Printed Ephemera Collection
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbpe.07303000

Reading, Massachusetts, the 1860's:  here's your application for your MALE dog's license.  I wonder why they didn't simply provide a space to write that in.

"a dog that stinks, come on, come on"

thanks british library flickr (PD)

A little while ago I had a great deal of fun translating some cat proverbs from a huge Italian collection.  Today I'm going back in for wise words on dogs. Remember, I'm doing this with Google Translate, so correct me where you will.

Ogni tristo cane abbaia da casa sua -- Every sad dog barks from his house
A cane che puzza, dagli, dagli -- A dog that stinks, come on, come on (Idiom, and I have no clue -- curator)
Canini, gattini e figli di contadini, son belli quando son piccini -- Puppies, kittens and children of peasants are beautiful when they are little ones
A cani magri, mosche ingorde -- Lean dogs attract greedy flies
Porta rispetto al cane  per amor del padrone - Respect the dog for the sake of its master
Un cane arrabbiato corre soltanto nove giorni -- An angry dog runs only nine days
(BUT:) Niun cane arrabbiato corre sett'anni - An angry dog runs seven years  (I wonder which? - curator)
Al cane fu data la coda perche scodinzoli -- The dog was given its tail to wag it

- Strafforello, Gustavo, 1820-1903. La Sapienza Del Mondo: Ovvero, Dizionario Universale Dei Proverbi Di Tutti I Popoli, Raccolti, Tradotti, Comparati, E Commentati Da Gustavo Strafforello, Con L'aggiunta Di Aneddoti, Racconti, Fatterelli, E Di Illustrazioni Storiche, Morali, Scientifiche, Filologiche, Ecc. Torino: A. F. Negro, 1883. vol. 1. 229-33.

bronze in motion, denmark 1883

collection.smk.dk  The Royal Collection of Paintings and Sculptures CC0 1.0

Danish sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863-1945) was twenty when she modeled this bronze Cat with a Rat (1883).  She'd been sculpting animals since the age of 12, when she started with a pet lamb; in her youth a veterinarian friend gave her animal carcasses so she could study musculature.  This is a rough sketch of a cat, getting the feel of its volume and movement, not forgetting the tipped-back ears of a feline still in the exciting throes of the hunt.
Nielsen became one of Denmark's most prominent sculptors, studied in Paris, and was the first Danish woman to be awarded the commission for an equestrian monument (a memorial statue for King Christian IX of Denmark).  The National Museum of Women in the Arts has an excellent pair of blog posts on her life - here's Part I and Part II.

lord byron says "alas, poor prim"

Judith Blunt-Lytton, Lady Wentworth, was a great-grandchild of Lord Byron and a noted authority on Arabian horses. She did write one book on toy dog breeds, in which she offhandedly notes this jewel of a family anecdote:

A liking for dogs runs in my family. Lord Byron, my great grandfather, wrote verses on his own dog which are too well known to quote, but the epitaph he wrote on a pet dog belonging to Lady Byron is not so well known:
 Alas, poor Prim,
I'm sorry for him.
I'd rather by half
It had been Sir Ralph.
Sir Ralph Milbanke being his father-in-law, the verse has the usual caustic Byronic vigour.

I couldn't find any images of Prim, but I did turn up this Guardian pictorial article on Byron's dogs, if you're interested.

 -  Wentworth, Lady, 1873-. Toy Dogs And Their Ancestors: Including the History And Management of Toy Spaniels, Pekingese, Japanese And Pomeranians. London: Duckworth, 1911. p. 7.

a mouse has a snack

Gift of the Estate of Dr. Eleanor Z. Wallace www.brooklynmuseum.org

This woodcut by Mochizuki Gyokusen (Japanese, 1794-1852) shows the simplest of pleasures. "Mouse Eating Pea Pods," ca. 1850. 

sitting so beautifully

thanks british library flickr (PD) id: 003471451

Here's a soulful portrait of Greyfriars Bobby. It's from the pages of Aileen Aroon: a memoir, with other tales of faithful friends and favourites, written (and illustrated? The book doesn't say!) by Gordon Stables and published in London in 1884.  I can't let the dedication go by unremarked: "This Book is dedicated to my wee Daughter FREDABEL INEZ GORDON, By her fond Papa."

little beggar

courtesy national galleries of scotland

Here's "Olaf the Dog Begging," by William Bell Scott (Scottish, 1811-1890), dated 1862.  A friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was also no slouch at a winsome pet sketch, Scott wrote intimate accounts of Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite circle.  Known for his landscapes and history paintings, Scott also added industrial themes to his work, one of the first British artists to do so. 
And then he took time out one day to dash off a beady-eyed supplication from his best friend.

Credit line: Purchased 1950.  Link to object webpage here.

catnap

CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Somewhere in the files of the Wellcome Library you'll find "A Sleeping Cat," a Japanese work in gouache dating to the 19th century.