medieval dogs

 

        The main takeaways I got from this week's readings were that: a. Medieval artists consciously used dogs as a tool in their art, particularly to teach moral lessons, and b. modern scholars aren't great at picking up on that.

    One of my favorite sections of the readings was the part about dog collars, something to me that is obvious and innocuous today. I think of my dog's collar as a safety measure, to keep her on her leash, and identify her if she gets lost. But the collars on dogs portrayed in these medieval artworks are highly elaborate, featuring fabrics, gold chains, insignias, and even jewels, making them status symbols. The more expensive the collar, the wealthier the owner. I can't even imagine my dog wearing something made of gold and jewels, I feel like the collar would instantly make her more regal. 

    Dogs were used as good and bad examples within art, they often reflect or contrast human expressions. Dogs often represented fealty or loyalty, and I feel like that value is still associated with dogs to this day. It's interesting to think about how some ideas about dogs haven't faded away. It's a shame that these ideas aren't emphasized as much by modern scholars. I wonder what these medieval artists would think about art scholars who ignore whose parts of their paintings.

    I think, like I've said before, that'd it'd be really interesting to see this topic in a non-western way. I'd love to read the article about how dogs were portrayed in medieval Japanese scrolls!