Austrian Court Painter, circa 1570

A dog with an ornate collar,
oil on canvas, 98 x 115 cm, framed

It has not, so far, been possible to identify the coat-of-arms on the collar of the dog depicted in the present painting, so that it is difficult to determine the painter, or the place of origin where the painting was made. Stylistically it appears unlikely that the painting originates from Italy, for the works of the Florentine court artists who had specialised in animal painting, who included Daniel Fröschl (before 1572–1613), Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670) and Giacomo Ligozzi (circa 1547–1626). Nor do Bologna or Pisa appear to be persuasive options. North of the Alps, the courts of Dresden or Munich might be options, however nothing that compares to the present work was produced there. It is just as unlikely that this painting was executed in Rudolfine Prague, as the animal pictures produced by its court painters, including once again Daniel Fröschl, as well as Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn (1565–1620), Roeland Savery (1576/78–1639), Hans Hoffmann (circa 1530–1591/92, Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526/27–1593), and Bartholomeus Spranger (1546–1611), only have little in common stylistically with the present painting. However, two more Habsburg courts existed in the second half of the sixteenth century, one in Vienna, where, however, nobody could have painted such a picture, and another in Tyrol, where the city of Innsbruck was home to the extremely sophisticated court of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol (1529–1595) and Ambras Castle, his residence. Ferdinand of Tyrol attracted numerous foreign artists, including such animal painters as Giorgio Liberale (1527–1579/80), who came from Udine. It would thus be entirely plausible that the present painting was by one of the artists who were serving the Tyrolean court.

At that time, princes regarded such pedigree dogs as the one depicted here as prestigious status symbols and objects of treasure that were to be documented in the form of pictures. Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol commissioned many such dog portraits, several of which have survived in the collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (see Echt tierisch – die Menagerie des Fürsten, exhibition catalogue, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck 2015, pp. 200–207). For example, they show the lap dog Lucidoro, a toy spaniel, an anonymous pregnant dog, and Regina and Rubino, a couple of toy spaniels. It is obvious that the Archduke and his morganatic wife, Philippine Welser, greatly cherished these animals. The anonymous painter (or painters) captured these dogs authentically and true to life, and also gave them a soul that shows through the way their eyes are rendered. In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition at Ambras, the Habsburgs and their dogs are described: ‘Their favourite dogs were given special names and adorned with princely accessories. For example, those owned by Charles V had white leather leashes and purple collars embroidered with the imperial coat of arms. Such collars contained not only information about the owner, but also about his or her social status. The older dogs belonging to Charles V had leather beds and covers made of deerskin. Spanish greyhounds (galgos) and special hunting dogs from Bavaria, England, France, Ireland, and Spain arrived at the Habsburg court as princely gifts. In 1570, Catherine de’ Medici sent six little dogs from Lyons to the daughters of Philip II. Others came from faraway countries, like the hairless Chinese dog Emperor Rudolf II received from Lisbon in 1583. Dogs were extremely important to the Habsburgs; they entrusted leading court artists to immortalise them in paintings or other works of art, even posthumously’ (Echt tierisch – die Menagerie des Fürsten, exhibition catalogue, p. 16). In the present case, too, the dog’s owner had the likeness of his precious and probably also very beloved animal painted.

We are grateful to Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.