Jennings Dog
Jennings Dog | |
---|---|
Material | Marble |
Discovered | 1753–1756 Monte Cagnuolo |
Discovered by | Henry Constantine Jennings |
Present location | British Museum |
3D model (click to interact) |
The Jennings Dog (also known as The Duncombe Dog or The Dog of Alcibiades) is a Roman sculpture of a
Molossian dog
It is identified at the
... our own generation saw on the
shrine of Juno, a bronze figure of a hound licking its wound, the miraculous excellence and absolute truth to life of which is shown not only by the fact of its dedication in that place but also by the method taken for insuring it; for as no sum of money seemed to equal its value, the government enacted that its custodians should be answerable for its safety with their lives.[4]
Discovery and purchase
The stone sculpture was discovered at Monte Cagnuolo, near the ancient
The sculpture became famous on its arrival in Britain, praised by Horace Walpole among a scant handful of masterly Roman sculptures of animals,[6] with replicas that were thought to make "a most noble appearance in a gentleman's hall", in Dr Johnson's words.
"The Dog of Alcibiades"
A story in Plutarch's life of Alcibiades tells of the statesman owning a large, handsome dog whose tail Alcibiades cut off so as to invoke pity from the Athenians and distract them from his worse deeds.[7] The broken tail of this sculpture led Jennings to link it to this story, calling it "the dog of Alcibiades";[8] under this title a pair of copies[9] in Portland stone were installed by Robert Adam at Newby Hall, Yorkshire, about 1780, and in the later 19th century a pair in cast stone were set in the gardens at Basildon Park, Berkshire.[10] A 19th-century pair carved in serpentine were sold by Bonham's, London, in 2005.[11]
"Duncombe's Dog"
In settlement of his gambling debts in 1778, Jennings was forced to sell the sculpture, stating "A fine dog it was, and a lucky dog was I to purchase it". The dog was soon afterwards sold at Phillips for £1000 to the Rt Hon Charles Duncombe. James Boswell records a conversation between Johnson and other members of the Literary Club, around the time of the statue's sale, in which Edmund Burke exclaimed "A thousand guineas! The representation of no animal whatever is worth so much", to which Dr Johnson replied "Sir, it is not the worth of the thing, but the skill in forming it, which is so highly estimated. Every thing that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shews man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable."[12]
For 150 years the sculpture stood guard in the entrance hall of Duncombe Park, the family mansion in Yorkshire; it was enthusiastically described there in 1859: "Among the statues in this apartment is particularly noticed an excellent antique sculpture, representing the Dog of Alcibiades, said to be the work of Myron, a Grecian sculptor".[13] It remained there, away from public view, until 1925. In that year, inheritance taxes forced the Duncombes to rent out the hall to Queen Mary's School for Girls, whose pupils were rumoured to feed the dog unwanted Marmite sandwiches.
The British Museum
It was finally sold by Thomas Duncombe's descendant
References
- ^ a b c d The Jennings Dog / The Duncombe Dog / The Dog of Alcibiades Trustees of the British Museum [n.d.] Accessed October 2011.
- ^ One illustrated in Aelius Stilo, "Molossian: The Jennings Dog"
- ^ "Molossian: The Jennings Dog"
- ^ Pliny the Elder Natural History XXXIV.38
- ^ The tradition of its place of discovery, reported by James Dalloway, author of Anecdotes of the Arts in England (1800), was noted in T. Whellan, History and Topography of the City of York: and the North Riding Volume 2, 1859:250.
- Mattei eagle, the eagle at Strawberry-hill, and Mr. Jennings's, now Mr. Duncombe's dog...".
- ^ Plutarch Alcibiades, 9
- ^ The similar dogs in the Vatican Museums have unbroken tails; they were also found at Monte Cagnuolo, by Gavin Hamilton in 1774, "within the precincts of the villa of Antoninus Pius", according to Sir Henry Ellis, The Townley Gallery of Classical Sculpture at the British Museum, vol. 1 1846:302, Rm VI, no 52 (A group of two grayhounds at play).
- ^ The design was reversed to make a pair.
- ^ John P.S. Davis, Antique Garden Ornament, 1991:101ff.
- ^ Auction of 22 November 2005, illustrated
- ^ Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, under date 3 April 1778.
- ^ T. Whellan, History and Topography of the City of York: and the North Riding Volume 2, 1859:250.
External links
- Export of Works of Art 2000-2001 (2002) by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Case 36)
- Encyclopaedia Romana
- Diggings Online
- Kennedy, Maev (2 August 2001). "Give a dog a bone". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
- Green, Susie (17 November 2001). "Hound dog days". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2007.