Nov
Clean Water & Dogs in Art
The blogger Limecello does an annual fundraiser for a good cause. She researches charities and finds the ones that really do succeed and don’t waste money on fundraising and whatnot. This year she’s raising money for charity:water, an organization dedicated to bringing sufficient and clean water to people all over the world. Water isn’t just about being clean. It’s a matter of life and death. I urge you to go over to her blog and read about the importance of clean water. You don’t even have to donate (though it would be nice if you did!) Various people have pledged donations if comments reach a certain number. I pledge $100 if I can drive at least 25 comments to the blog via The Ballroom. So please, go on over and comment and mention that Lady B sent you! The goal is 1000 comments by the end of November so get over there. There are also prizes. [I'm told some people don't recognize the link to Limecello's blog. Click here!]
Portrait of Charles Crowle by Pompeo Batoni. This man took his dog on the Grand Tour!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
In the eighteenth century the English upper classes collected antiquities, pictures and sculpture with an avidity that filled the country houses, and later the museums, of Britain with extraordinary riches. Until the French Revolution spoiled the party, a Grand Tour of Europe, complete with art shopping, was as essential part of a gentleman’s education.
Art shopping often included a portrait, perhaps by Pompeo Batoni, who painted dozens of Grand Tourists, surrounding them with symbols of classical culture.Then they went home and became English country gentlemen with a passion for horses and dogs. George Stubbs was perhaps the most famous portraitist of the British animal, but he had lots of company. Men, women and children were all painted in company with their pets.
A Gentleman and his Dog in a Landscape by Francis Wheatley. Lady B would approve of his legs. In fact she probably has.
Big horse, tiny dog: The Countess of Coningsby in the Costume of the Charlton Hunt by George Stubbs.
Miss Anna Ward with Her Dog Kimbell by Sir Joshua Reynolds
Lord Northwick’s Picture Gallery at Thirlestaine House by Robert Huskisson. No art gallery is complete without a dog.
Finally, no discussion of canine art is complete without Dogs Playing Poker
The Wild Quartet, my new series that debuts later this month, is based around a group of young men with a passion for art. Caro, the heroine of The Importance of Being Wicked, is the widow of one of the art collectors. Thomas, Duke of Castleton is a horse and dog man. Can you say major conflict? What’s worse, Caro owns a cat.
I love pets in books. What do you think? And what are some of your favorites? Also, feel free to share your favorite dog pictures!
Nov 10, 2012
2:13 am
I love dogs. I love dogs in books. And I love looking at dogs in art. My husband and I were discussing how we think the photoshop oil painting filter should basically always include a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
Fun inspiration post, Miranda.
And dogs like clean water too.
Nov 10, 2012
11:42 am
Love the idea of a special Photoshop spaniel filter1
Nov 10, 2012
8:10 am
Like Sabrina, I love dogs in books too. One of my favorites is Eloisa James’ A Duke of Her Own. In that book two pugs (my favorites!) are featured-Oyster and Lettuce. As a matter of fact Oyster helps the hero Villiers realize his true feelings for the heroine Eleanor. What a smart dog. I mean Oyster not Villiers!!
Great post, Miranda. Hope Lady B doesn’t mind all the canines in the ballroom today.
Nov 10, 2012
11:44 am
Those pugs were adorable, Janice. Another favorite of mine is the dog in Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me. Darn, wish I could remember his name.
Nov 10, 2012
9:23 am
I love Laura Kinsale’s books and who but her would come up with a penguin as a pet for her hero in Seize the Fire! There are other pets in books that have impressed me but this is the most memorable. “That was the kind of man [Sheridan] was. A realist. A scoundrel. A liar. A shabby knight with a baby penguin asleep on his boot.”
Nov 10, 2012
11:45 am
I’ve never read Seize the Fire but now I know about the penguin I shall have to! That’s an adorable quote. Thanks, Betty
Nov 10, 2012
9:55 am
Baxter approves this Saturday Salon. He likes both water and poker.
I actually just wrote my first real “pet in book” for ONE GOOD EARL DESERVES A LOVER …I confess, I had been a little afraid of doing it…but I really enjoyed it!
Some of my favorite are Elizabeth Hoyt’s dogs in books…I love the one in her TO BEGUILE A BEAST. And I love the dog/wolf in Judith McNaught’s ONCE AND ALWAYS…
Nov 10, 2012
11:46 am
Can’t wait for your pet (I notice you don’t specify the species, you tease). I put a dog in The Wild Marquis and he was such a fun character to write.
Nov 10, 2012
10:53 am
I’m reading Janet Chapman’s Mackeage books for the third or fourth time and “A Highlander Christmas” has a wonderful, heroic dog story in it as well as a couple of dogs (Max and Tigger) who help our our lovebirds, Camry and Luke.
Nov 10, 2012
11:47 am
Aw, Debbie. It’s so lovely when animals help bring our couple together. I can never resist it.
Nov 10, 2012
11:02 am
I was thinking of your charity and how clean water and water in general is essential to life. It makes me wonder what a person from say the 1700s came all of a sudden to the 21st century and saw we were not only drinking the water, but buying it. The person might want to buy it, so it is fresh. One of the main reasons they drank spirits rather than the water. Have you ever thought about that?
Now for today’s post. I LOVE reading about pets in stories. Love even more when that pet is a cat. Mainly because I am a “Cats Rule, Dogs Drool” type of person. I have never really been a dog person. But, don’t mind if the pet in the story is a dog because I know I am out numbered by the dog people of the world. The stories with pets in them that come to mind are ones with dogs in them. Elizabeth Hoyt always seems to put a dog in her stories, the one I liked best was “To Beguile A Beast”. Which has a really sweet story and a dog thrown in.
In fact, the best stories with animals are where the hero/heroine get a dog or cat and it becomes part of the story. Today is the Marine Corps birthday, who have a dog as their mascot. My Dad, my brother-in-law and my nephew were all Marines, so it to honor them and all members of the USMC – here’s a picture of Chesty, the bulldog.
Nov 10, 2012
12:07 pm
Thank you for sharing this photo with us Jamie! I love it.
Nov 10, 2012
11:50 am
I’ve already commented over at Limecello’s blog but that was before I knew about this. Don’t think I can comment again, but will check.
I enjoy pets and animals in romances, they are always a lot of fun and can be a great way to reveal character. The way a hero/heroine interacts and treats a pet can be very telling.
Some favorites are Tartuffe from Tessa’s Three Nights and Dinner from A Night to Surrender of course. Also loved Foolish from Nora’s Chesapeake Bay series, Malcom the cat from JQ’s How to Marry a Marquis, and Tavy’s pet monkey Lal from Katharine’s In the Mars of a Marquess.
Nov 10, 2012
1:07 pm
Aww, thank you for mentioning Tartuffe and Dinner!
Nov 10, 2012
4:50 pm
Dinner. Best pet name ever
Nov 10, 2012
7:26 pm
I’m so glad you liked Tavy’s monkey, Lisa! He was a very good monkey as monkeys go, I’ll admit, and never threw nasty things (as monkeys are wont to do). :}
Nov 10, 2012
11:52 am
Excellent point, Jamie. I’ve never been able to get my head around the fact that people routinely drank beer for breakfast in the Middle Ages. The ale ration is even written into the Order of Saint Benedict as part of the diet for monks!
Both you and Sarah mention Too Beguile a Beast. I’m way behind on Elizabeth Hoyt (not sure I’ve read any since the Prince trilogy) so I’ll have to find this one.
I’m more of a cat person though I love dogs too. My own cat inspired the pet in The Importance of Being Wicked.
Lastly, thank you for the lovely picture of Chesty.
Nov 10, 2012
1:07 pm
Oh, sob – Alisdair riding through the rain in TO BEGUILE A BEAST…
Definitely one to search out.
Nov 10, 2012
1:06 pm
Lovely artwork, Miranda!
I love seeing dogs and other pets in portraits of the day–shows that people in every time period have loved their pets as much as we do now.
I do enjoy reading and writing pets in romance-and for me, the more unlikely the animal the better! Sheep, goats, parrot… I think pets are so handy for revealing more about a character–particularly a hero. There’s an odd quirk in our culture that makes it more permissible for a man to show emotion about an animal than for another person. Go figure.
Julie Anne Long does wonderful cats. I’m particularly fond of Spider the kitten in LIKE NO OTHER LOVER.
Nov 10, 2012
4:52 pm
Interesting point about men and petly emotion.
Speaking of parrots …
Nov 10, 2012
2:53 pm
I’m hunting this weekend but the weather isn’t cooperating so while I was taking my late morning siesta and checking email I thought I’d drop in
My favorite animals in books are Beatrices animals in Kleypas’s Hathway series
from hedgehogs to Albert the dog to the Maudsley *spelling* donkey. The little storylines with them were amusing.
Thanks for sharing the information about the clean water org. I’ll stop by there for sure. Another org that I’ve heard good things about is kiva.org. Have a great weekend ladies!
Nov 10, 2012
4:53 pm
Sorry about the weather, Gwendollyn but glad you stopped by. Please do take a minute to comment on Lime’s blog!
Good choice on Kleypas. I love a heroine with lots of animals.
Nov 10, 2012
7:33 pm
I love these pet pics, Miranda, especially the portrait of Anna Ward and Kimbell. I will shortly be writing a story about a dog-crazy heroine, and Anna and Kimbell look perfect together. Several of my characters have pets, actually, mostly dogs, a monkey, a few special horses. No one does dogs and horses like Laura Kinsale, though. She writes the human-animal bond with sublime beauty and tenderness. Just thinking about Jerveaux reuniting with his dogs in FLOWERS FROM THE STORM or S.T.’s heartbreak over the loss of his wolf in THE PRINCE OF MIDNIGHT makes me want to weep with all sorts of emotions. Oh, you’ve got me started. I may have to re-read them tonight…
Yay for Limecello’s drive and to you for telling our readers about it!
Nov 11, 2012
12:13 am
Puppies! Miranda what a lovely post — unfortunately I have no dog pictures, because I don’t have a dog! I will have to live vicariously through you all…
Nov 11, 2012
9:25 am
I love dogs. ’nuff said.