Animals are perhaps our most dignified friends and companions. Artists have certainly always known this, with the history of art populated by creatures big and small. With our newest selection of artworks, we want to truly cherish this notion of the dignified animal: not undermining them, and accounting for our long history of trying to understand their world.
Animals have always featured in art’s exploratory and creative lexicon. Ever since humans first started drawing on cave walls, the animal kingdom has been an endless source of fascination. From Ancient Egyptian depictions of deities through cats, to Leonardo da Vinci’s careful anatomical studies – the desire to assign symbolic meaning connects human cultures across centuries.
By the 17th century, the notion of an ‘animal painter’ truly came in to existence. In the Baroque animal painting tradition, hunting scenes were wildly popular illustrating the drama of life and death. But animals have also been depicted in their own quiet beauty, as in the loving miniatures of pets that populated the Victorian era.
Truth, treachery, god, and family – the meanings are endlessly rich, and even contradictory. Below we’ve curated a selection of original artworks that explore the world of animals in all their glory and tenderness.