The dog is the traditional, and obvious, 'totemic' animal for the Dominicans, Domini canes, dogs of the Lord ... but they have on occasion been represented otherwise. The painting below, from the 1880s, is called Dominicans in Feathers and is part of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery collection. Some of our readers may know whether the artist, Henry Stacey Marks, had a personal connection with the Order or was simply aware of its black and white habit:
Eric Gill's dog is well known:
Wouldn't it now be a trendy social justice issue to care about the ethical treatment of Dominican animals?
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether Marks had any connections with the Dominicans, but he also painted at least two pictures of Franciscans (in less allegorical forms) so maybe he just had a thing about friars in general?
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me the source for the wonderful stained-glass image of the spotted dog carrying the torch that is the logo for your blog? It looks a lot like my own dog, a spotted Great Dane. Thank you.
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