Always by Our Side: Cats and Dogs in 16th‒19th-Century Art

The exhibition, its accompanying printed materials and audience programmes deal with relationships between people and animals and their reflections in art. The historical and cultural backgrounds of the images are also explained, and aspects that have previously gone unnoticed are brought to light. Changes that have taken place in society over the centuries have brought about changes in attitudes towards animals, as well as in the purposes and manners of depicting them. Nowadays, cats and dogs are mainly seen as pets or furry friends, but in earlier times they played a number of other roles.

The exhibition introduces cats and dogs as one-time religious symbols, allegories of virtues and vices, expressions of power and status, means of conveying masculinity and femininity, physical and psychological helpers, entertainers and objects of affection. Depending on the cultural convictions of an era, cats and dogs could be either positive or negative protagonists in art. They are often depicted as opposites, even enemies, sometimes embodying the complicated relationships between people. In art, just as in life, cats and dogs can play either leading or supporting roles, but they are ever-present and need to be addressed, particularly nowadays, when pictures of cats and dogs fill a large portion of the omnipotent media space.

The paintings, prints, sculptures and applied art displayed at the exhibition come from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Sinebrychoff Art Museum in Helsinki and Estonian national and private collections.

Curators: Anu Allikvee, Tiina-Mall Kreem and Anu Mänd