Dog Painting: The European Breeds - Large Format Coffee Table Book by William Secord

CONDITION
Very good vintage condition. Clean interior pages, strong and tight binding. Dust jacket and edges of binding have significant sun fade.

SIZE
Hardcover coffee-table format. Approximately 9" x 11". 398 pages.

PROVENANCE
Published in 2000, this volume reflects a scholarly yet visually rich examination of European canine portraiture and breed history during the height of nineteenth-century animal painting.

MAKER
William Secord

MATERIAL
Hardcover with extensive full-color and black-and-white reproductions of historical paintings throughout.

WHY WE LOVE THIS
Dog Painting — The European Breeds is both an art book and a cultural history, and is now out of print.
William Secord presents a sweeping survey of how dogs were seen, valued, and portrayed across Europe during the nineteenth century — a period when the dog became not only a working companion, but a subject worthy of formal artistic attention.

While English artists were prolific in the genre, Secord expands the lens to include French, German, Dutch, Italian, and other European painters, revealing how each culture expressed its relationship with dogs through art. From aristocratic lapdogs and finely bred sporting companions to shepherds’ dogs and tireless working breeds, the book captures the full social spectrum of canine life.

More than ninety breeds are examined in detail and organized into five thoughtful categories:
• Working & Herding
• Hounds
• Toys & Non-Sporting
• Terriers
• Sporting Dogs

What makes this volume exceptional is the way it blends breed history, national identity, and art history into one cohesive narrative. Each painting becomes a window into how dogs were bred, trained, lived with, and ultimately admired — not only as animals, but as reflections of the societies that shaped them.
It is comprehensive without being dry, scholarly without being intimidating, and visually compelling on every page.

STYLING SUGGESTION
Display this on a coffee table, library console, or stacked beside equestrian or sporting titles. It pairs beautifully with antique dog figurines, brass frames, or a framed canine portrait — adding warmth, character, and intellectual depth to a space.