# White Dog

- By: Wenceslaus Hollar (after Adriaen Jacobz Matham (Dutch, 1599-1660))
- Date: 1649
- Medium: Etching on ivory laid paper
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Plate: 7.7 × 12.2 cm (3 1/16 × 4 13/16 in.); Sheet: 15.5 × 21.2 cm (6 1/8 × 8 3/8 in.)
- Culture: Bohemia
- Credit line: Gift of James Wells
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/102180)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/a0fc7bfd-2481-6491-c35d-dacf3909de69/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Images of dogs in the early modern period could have allegorical or moral meanings or simply offer literal portraits. Wenceslaus Hollar’s profile study of a popular type of dog likely presents its sitter as a status symbol as well as someone’s pet. While the untamed lion-like mane could belong to a small poodle, this engraving is sometimes thought to represent a Bolognese dog, an Italian breed owned by and portrayed with members of the Gonzaga family in the sixteenth century and later idolized by Catherine the Great of Russia.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0