Art History 101 with Sara Howie

Animals in Art: A Curious History

From beloved companions to prized farm animals, creatures great and small have found their way into art for centuries. But animal portraiture hasn't always been about capturing a cute face or a wagging tail. Behind those painted paws, fluffy coats, and sometimes surprisingly enormous cows lie fascinating stories of affection, status, and the changing relationship between humans and animals.

What happens when art tells us more than meets the eye? Join art historian Sara Howie as she uncovers the curious stories behind animal portraiture — including some wonderfully strange cows that are anything but ordinary.

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Why Are These 18th-Century Cows So Absurdly Huge? An Art Historian Explains

By Sara Howie

In honour of Opposite Wall’s new Pets collection, we’re talking about some of my favourite paintings and some very freaky animals.

One of the first things I learned about art history in high school was that there was a “before” and “after” the camera. Painting, as told to me, changed dramatically once photography was invented. Before the photograph, painters were tasked with portraying objects as accurately as possible. 

That statement is an oversimplification of a lot of forces at work, but in Western art history, it’s fair to say painters were expected to portray the world around them with a high level of exactness. So how do you explain paintings like The Durham White Ox, painted by William Ward in 1813, about a decade before the invention of the photograph, and years before its popularization? 

*Pictured: Whistlejacket (c. 1762) by George Stubbs — a striking example of realism meeting artistic idealization, long before photography.

First, there’s always more going on than what meets the eye. In Western art history, paintings often contain far more than what’s on the surface. 

Take the famous Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck. It’s a wedding portrait, and it’s full of symbolism, including a painting of a dog. This dog is not just included in the painting and because it was the family pet! In the early Renaissance, dogs symbolized fidelity. If you were commissioning a portrait to show the public that you were beginning a long and prosperous marriage, you’d fill it with positive symbols, and a faithful dog fits the bill. 

You see something similar in Dutch floral paintings, like the work of Rachel Ruysch. Flower paintings were never just flower paintings. Each bloom carried meaning, and certain flowers, depending on their rarity, signified status or wealth. These paintings also often include leaves with holes and bits of decay. That was deliberate: a memento mori, a reminder of the fragility and fleeting nature of life. All of this is to say that while painters cared about realism to a degree, much of what appears in a painting is highly symbolic. So then, why the giant livestock?

*Pictured: The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) by Jan van Eyck. The little dog at the couple's feet is often interpreted as a symbol of fidelity. Collection: The National Gallery, London. Image: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

With this in mind, let’s return to the paintings by British artists in the 18th century, who could otherwise paint very true to life. In Ward’s The Durham White Ox, or in Thomas Weaver’s Prize Cattle in a Landscape, here, the livestock looks comically huge: massive, squarish, and wildly exaggerated. Sure, some square cows exist today, but this is another level entirely. Now we know it was likely intentional, which raises the question: why were these animals so exaggerated?

*Pictured: Prize Cattle in a Landscape (1833) by Thomas Weaver. With their enormous bodies and tiny legs, these prize animals are anything but ordinary. Image: Yale Center for British Art, via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

Let’s look at the context. Food security was a major factor. Britain was dealing with frequent wars, and a fat animal meant a secure food supply. Status also played a role. Farms were often owned by British noblemen, and animal breeding was considered a high-class pastime. Innovation is the third piece of this puzzle. Thanks to advances in breeding, the size and quality of livestock was changing rapidly during this period.

These paintings, commissioned by noblemen, were partly advertisement and partly gloating. Owning a herd of fat, healthy livestock portrayed you as rich and successful.

*Pictured: The Durham White Ox (1813), mezzotint by William Ward after George Garrard. This celebrated image reflects how prized livestock could symbolize abundance, status and agricultural progress.

The paintings and prints often came with details like the animal’s measurements or weight, which let farmers compare the artwork against their own livestock. So, in these paintings, a cow isn’t just a cow. It’s a showcase of wealth and status.

If you loved looking at these animals, consider picking up some animal art of your own from Opposite Wall. Because who doesn’t love an excuse to talk about their pet?

*Pictured: The Durham Ox (1802), engraved by John Whessell after John Boultbee. Complete with measurements and an impressive estimated weight, this print was as much a showcase of agricultural achievement as a work of art.

From Art History to Your Walls

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