Artists have always found inspiration close to home, and sometimes that inspiration has four legs and a tail. Here are four artists who transformed their adorable animal companions into works of art.
William Hogarth and Trump
William Hogarth gave his beloved pug Trump a starring role in his 1745 artwork The Painter and his Pug. While the artist appears in a portrait within the painting, Trump sits proudly in the foreground. The National Gallery suggests that the dog’s famously stubborn character may have been intended to echo Hogarth’s own.
Rosa Bonheur and Fathma
Few artists lived alongside animals quite as much as Rosa Bonheur, whose home was shared with horses, dogs and even lions. Her lioness Fathma became one of her artistic subjects, appearing in several works from 1859 onwards and giving the celebrated animal painter an unusually close opportunity to study the species carefully.
Gwen John and Edgar Quinet
Cats appear frequently in Gwen John’s work; one of her most cherished ones was Edgar Quinet, named after the Parisian street where she lived. He is thought to be the cat depicted in several of her works, including Sketch of a Seated Cat (c.1904–08). When Edgar disappeared, John was sincerely affected by the loss and even wrote poems about him.
Edvard Munch and Fips and Truls
Edvard Munch’s later years were shared with several dogs, including Fips and Truls, who found their way into his art. The pair appear alongside Munch in self-portraits from the 1920s, and Fips can also be found in earlier sketches. It’s certainly a gentler side of the artist best known for The Scream.
