Thomas W. Laqueur's 'The Dog's Gaze' Traces Canine Presence in Western Art
Historian Thomas W. Laqueur's new book 'The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History' (2026, Penguin Press) surveys 250 artworks from the Palaeolithic to the present, arguing that dogs serve as 'animals that see with us,' uniquely bridging species in art. The book examines works by Vittore Carpaccio, Edwin Landseer, Antonio da Correggio, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others, showing how dogs function as structural axes, witnesses to suffering, and markers of familial integration. Laqueur also includes personal photographs, such as his grandfather with a Doberman in 1920s Germany and his own Weimaraner Rudi. While the book touches on the recent Wisconsin beagle facility protests and 19th-century anti-vivisection imagery, it maintains a historian's impartiality and avoids overt sentimentality, though Laqueur ultimately embraces a declaration of care for Canis familiaris.
Key facts
- Thomas W. Laqueur published 'The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History' in 2026.
- The book reproduces 250 artworks from the Palaeolithic to the present.
- Laqueur argues dogs are uniquely gifted at breaching species bounds in art.
- The book discusses Vittore Carpaccio's 'St. Augustine in His Study' (1501–1505).
- Edwin Landseer's 'The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner' (1837) is analyzed.
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 'Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children' (1878) shows a dog as a chair.
- Laqueur includes a photograph of his grandfather with a Doberman in 1920s Germany.
- The book references the 2026 Wisconsin beagle facility protests.
- Laqueur distances himself from Landseer's 'overly sentimentalized' portrayal.
- The book is published by Penguin Press and available through independent booksellers.
Entities
Artists
- Thomas W. Laqueur
- Vittore Carpaccio
- Edwin Landseer
- Antonio da Correggio
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
- Albrecht Dürer
- Pablo Picasso
- Vincent van Gogh
- Franz Marc
- Gustave Caillebotte
- Giotto
- Carpaccio
- Titian
- Veronese
- Degas
- Matisse
- Dürer
- Rembrandt
- Bruegel the Elder
- Lucian Freud
- James Thurber
- Richard Avedon
- Kenneth Clark
- Werner Herzog
- Adam Smith
- Charles Darwin
Institutions
- Penguin Press
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Städel Museum
- Ashmolean Museum
- The New Yorker
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The Inquisition
Locations
- Wisconsin
- United States
- Germany
- Genoa
- Italy
- Chauvet cave
- France
- Venice
- New York
- Central Park
- Israel