On Bring Your Dog to Work Day, do you? Mine is usually snoozing in my lap while I'm tapping away at the keyboard. But as it turns out, dogs in history have been taken on lots of 'work' days that are much more exciting than mine's ever experienced.
Here are 11 historical depictions of dogs in the work place...
Here's one hound sitting up like he doesn't have a care in the world, while poor Robert Tresilian gets the chop in Jean Froissart's miniature painting of the fifteenth century. Dogs were often used in medieval art as a symbol for loyalty, so it might allude to one of the characters in the scene, or may even have been Tresilian's dog pictured. Tresilian was a lawyer and royal official who served Richard II during the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. He was later convicted of treason and fell from power.
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| Susanna Before the Judge, 1510-1515, Met Museum. Public Domain. |
Bringing your dog to work if you're a judge would probably be easy. They'd just sit there looking all cute and loyal while you pass judgements on cases. And they're supposed to promote wellbeing, too. Looks like the dog is especially needed here, as the woman on the left is clearly not getting the result she wanted (check out the eye roll), and the guy behind her is in the middle of a semi-face palm.
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| Joseph Presenting His Father to the Pharoah, Met Museum, Public Domain. |
As an owner of two dogs, they're never far from the table when we're having dinner, and this greyhound looks as if he's either waiting for a bit of that bird on the platter above him, or guarding his owner while he receives petitions from the public. Awww.
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| Nature Sets Her Hound Youth After The Stag. 1495-1510. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
So here's Nature, who's brought her dog out into the woods with her to go after the stag. Although to be fair, the dog looks like he's just having fun leaping over the flowers and running alongside the stag.
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| The Adoration of the Magi, Hieronymous Bosch, c1475. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
Even in important work such as travelling miles to present gifts to the newborn Christ involved bringing along your dog. Another greyhound, he's just looking kind of coy while his owner presents a costly present to the Virgin and Child. Hope he got a treat.
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| The Fat Kitchen, 1563. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
This portrayal of a busy and rambunctious kitchen complete with cooks and diners shows a dog in the bottom right.
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| Boy with a Greyhound, 1570s. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
In the nobility and royal courts, there were often whole sections of a household dedicated to looking after the dogs, and this man of the late sixteenth century looks as if he might belong to one of them. Greyhounds were kept as a mark of status and were also used to hunt. Fun fact: Henry VIII once had to pay a penalty to a farmer when his and Anne Boleyn's dogs killed a cow grazing in the field.
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| Portrait of a Woman, late 1560s. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
A different kind of dog, small dogs were kept as tiny, furry companions for noble ladies. They were there while the woman was listening to music, carrying out household business and, evidently, posing for portraits, too.
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| The Doctor, From The Dance of Death, c1526. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
An awkward visit from Death to the doctor' surgery, and carrying a flask of urine, too. Thankfully, the dog's not bothered, just sleeping away the afternoon on the tiled floor in front of his master.
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| The Virtuous Officers, 1531. Met Museum, Public Domain. |
Here they are, scribes and accountants carrying out their duty - check out the rolls of parchment in the alcoves around them, and that ornate wooden carved chair on the right. I'm not sure what the dog is doing here in the middle of the picture, but I'm sure he's giving his co-workers lots of moral support.
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| Book of Hours: The Annunciation, c1407. British Library Flickr. Public Domain. |
Here, a dog and cat fight in front of the Virgin Mary as she finds out she is to have God's child, showing one of the perils of bringing your dog (and cat) into the workplace.
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