The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History

What do dogs do in art? This dazzlingly original cultural history, written by Cundill Prize-winning historian Thomas W. Laqueur, explores why dogs feature more prominently than any other animal in the visual stories we create about ourselves.

Long before the phrase ‘man’s best friend’ became common parlance, dogs were already standing beside us in art as in life. Laqueur invites readers to explore their ubiquitous presence in visual art, tracing their role from the Palaeolithic age through the western tradition, featuring artists from Giotto to Goya and Rubens to Rego.

Key Features/Benefits

• Examines the shared social history of humans and dogs through visual art.
• Analyzes the role of dogs as hunting partners, beloved friends, and conduits to the afterlife.
• Shows how dogs function as integral and intentional elements in images, providing narrative coherence and bearing witness.
• Offers fresh insights into the human condition through the eyes of canine companions.
• Richly illustrated and lovingly written cultural history.

Specifications

• Author: Thomas W. Laqueur
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Print Length: 400 pages
• Publication Date: May 7, 2026
• ISBN-10: 0241729084
• ISBN-13: 978-0241729083
• Dimensions: 161 x 242 x 35 mm (approx. 6.3 x 9.5 x 1.4 inches)
• Weight: 750 g

The Dog's Gaze is a unique visual history that reveals what the presence of dogs in art tells us about our own ways of seeing and how we wish to be remembered.