KOH, John.

Dogs in Early Photography.

Throughout history, dogs have been a subject in art; dogs were featured in cave drawings, coins, funerary sculptures or medieval marginalia. Before smartphones allowed dog owners to capture and share every moment of their dogs’ lives, fine art documented this relationship and promoted the dog from a supporting to a leading role. While Renaissance and Baroque portraiture is the first clear sign of the increasingly close emotional connection between humans and dogs, it was in the nineteenth century that this new relationship truly began to take hold, as the Industrial Revolution brought about a growing middle class and, just at this moment of enormous social change, dog-loving Queen Victoria made dog ownership prestigious and fashionable. For the first time, companion dog ownership began to transcend social class as the aristocracy and the middle and working classes embraced their new canine family members. Meanwhile, the nascent world of photography allowed dog owners to capture images of their pets, and the mass production of images made it possible at a reasonable cost. As a result, photography has had an outsized impact on the dog, its social position, and its importance to modern society.