Toy Dogs in Art Part II: The Little White Toy Dog That May Have Been a Maltese!

There is a painting at the Prado in Madrid that is almost certainly a breed that we have now lost, or just as likely, it is a crossbred resulting from the inter-mixing of the various strains of tiny toy dogs. Tiny toy dogs were the playthings of the houses of fashion and the courts of the mid-seventeenth century. This little dog is white in color with a face and eyes like our present day Maltese. The solid white coat is identical to the kind of a Maltese. The painting done in 1650 is called `The Holy Family of the Little Bird.' The artist is Murillo.

An interesting point to mention is that this little white dog in the painting has the kind of tail found on a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Even though it had the tail like the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, it probably was not that breed, because the color was white. The subject of Murillo's paintings is biblical. He often included his own dogs in his paintings, or the dogs he saw around him, or even dogs belonging to the sponsors for whom he painted the picture.

Read on at: About Toy Dogs