The animal as a symbol has long had a history of metamorphoses, changes in shapes as well as in meaning. They range from faithful representations at their most lifelike to highly stylized forms in decorations and ornamentation that are almost unrecognizable but still significant. Symbolic meanings change from continent to continent. Yet the rule and the role of the animal as the embodiment of gods, kings, or other religions ideas came to an end at the time of the Renaissance. Man became the center of the universe and a god in himself. He attached the world around him with reason. Gone, all of a sudden, were the gargoyles, chimeras and unicorns of medieval cathedrals and tapestries. When the artist lost his anonymity, the animal lost its magical powers. As individual artists emerged, known by name, the animal became part of a species, a being of very specific, almost anatomical characteristics. Man and animal were no longer interchangeable. The animal world of fable and fancy was slowly turned into a catalogue of biological facts. The artist, for the first time had become the scientist who used the animals as an object of study.
In Renaissance representations, the animal had yet to lose meaning altogether. It had only exchanged part of its symbolic powers for allegorical and mythological interpretations. It may have lost its magic spell, but none of its charm. Human virtues and vices were mainly what animals stood for. "In a Christian context, the dog, specifically, esteemed already in the ancient world for its fidelity according to Pliny, could become an earthly emblem of that virtue." (Hall, 105) Carved in postures of steadfast watchfulness alongside many tomb effigies, or in the form of a cuddly lap dog, it represented not only marital fidelity, but also perhaps erotic desire, equally proportioned in the commemoration of a marriage. In portraiture, at the feet of a woman or in her lap, it alluded to her marital fidelity or if a widow, to her faithfulness of her husband's memory, and had similar meanings in double portraits of husband and wife. Art mirrors, sometimes directly, sometimes subliminally, almost every change of human experience through history. Therefore, the role of dogs, in life as in art, might add insight about what was happening in the world of the Renaissance.
The dog as guardian appears in Renaissance emblem books. "The dog was also interpreted as a symbol of fidelity in Whitney's emblem Medici Icon, which represented Aesculapius seated on a throne with a scepter in one hand and a staff in the other,… and a dog at his feet…[denoting] faithfulness and love which physicians should show in their professions." (Rowland, 62) The notion of "watchdog" was seen on the elaborately embroidered coat of Francesco Sforza of Milan in the early fifteenth century "after he had put down the popular disturbances … and had taken over the city." (Rowland, 63) Reclining at the feet of man, the dog came to symbolize strength and courage in the Renaissance. " In certain fourteenth-century illustrations, the dog was given a pose appropriate to his master's reputation….gnawing at a bone or lying patiently at his master's feet." (Rowland, 63) Rubens and Tintoretto painted numerous works depicting St. Roch, a fourteenth-century saint who is generally accompanied by his dog.
Negative connotations were also assigned to "man's best friend" from the time of antiquity. "Greek and Roman sources associated the dog with sexual offenses and Medieval authors…referred to canine promiscuity and lechery." (Rowland, 58) A common woman might be compared to a lecherous hound. A dog chasing a hare in the background symbolized sexual pursuit. "The dog as a symbol of treachery and persecution was common in Flemish art." (Marrow, 167) Medieval passion literature stated that "Christ's tormentors are evil dogs that stand with their sinful feet in his blood." (Marrow, 174)
"Can human beings ever see into an animal's mind, or an animals into a human's?"(Clark, 176) The Renaissance painter Piero di Cosimo in Death of Procris represents a large black dog as completely lifelike, yet it seems to mourn the death of his master with human understanding. Dogs represented by Piero della Francesca take their appointed places as observers and faithful guardians. The mastiffs in Mantegna Camera degli Sposi do not betray a nasty manner, yet they are stolid and alert and ultimately controlled by the leaches held by their masters. It is clear that the primary purpose for these animals, powerful and massive, ears erect and noses high, was to defend the master. Paolo Veronese's dogs are placed prominently in his works, even those of a most solemn nature. In his Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, dogs which resemble whippets scrounge under the table for scraps and eye the hand of the seated figure for a potential tidbit. The dog in Madonna of the Cuccina Family, a type of spaniel, walks away offended as he, according to Ruskin " cannot understand how the Madonna got into the house, nor why she is allowed to stay, disturbing the family and taking all the attention" (Clark, 181) from himself. In his vast painting of the Marriage at Cana, two thin whippets, similar to those in Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee, figure prominently in the foreground, both tethered by leaches but obviously important not only to the composition of the painting, but also to the symbolism of the marriage itself. Velasquez's three breeds of dogs in the painting known as Las Meninas appear to be bored with court life and not impressed by the noted assemblage of royalty. However, the fourth, a small dog belonging to the two year old prince seems to symbolize the innocent curiosity of childhood as he peers over the arm of a chair, his large pop-eyes surveying the scene with seeming wonder.
In Titan's paintings, the dog as icon is often a disguised symbol. Animals in general comprise over twenty-five of Titian's works including portraits with dogs. In many cases, their presence has no obvious explanation. Yet in the portrait Giovanni dell' Acquviva, the plainness and honesty of the dog seems to signify Titian's criticism of the extravagantly dressed man. The small dog in Venus and the Organ Grinder looks with eyes directly at the spectator, the only ones in the painting which establish a sort of secret contact with the viewer. The nudes in Venus of Urbano and Danae feature small dogs curled up on their mistress's couches, perhaps symbolize fidelity, perhaps a sexual offense. In the Flaying of Marsyas Titian introduces two dogs- a toy one who licks the martyred satyr's blood at the center bottom, and a hunting dog with a blood-thirsty expression. In this work, he may have been "demonstrating his tendency to introduce disguised moralizations." (Marrow, 174) The evil dogs "identify sin as an instrument and cause of suffering, of the martyrdom." (Marrow, 174) Thus Titian's dogs are associated with positive and negative human passions and emotions. Titian's innovative approach to animal symbolism inspired quite a few artists, among them Veronese. Yet this study of canine iconography in Renaissance art is but a cursory overview of a larger piece of research to be continued by the author.