Dog memorial gifts that honour a life well loved
When a dog dies, a portrait keeps them in the room. Ten paintings of dogs who were loved and remembered, each the masterwork behind a Fable portrait style.
Losing a dog leaves a quiet that is hard to describe. The bowl is still there, the lead still hangs by the door, and the house feels larger than it should. People have always wanted something to hold on to, and for three hundred years the answer was often a portrait.
Several of the most famous dog paintings in the world were made to remember a dog, or became a memorial when the dog died. The ten below are each the masterwork behind one of Fable’s portrait styles. If you are looking for a gift for someone who has lost their dog, or a way to remember your own, you can send a favourite photo to any of these styles and see a free preview before you decide anything. Or simply order the original as a print.
1. Eos
Edwin Landseer, Eos, 1841. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection.
Eos was Prince Albert’s greyhound, who came with him from Germany. Queen Victoria commissioned Landseer to paint her as a Christmas present for Albert in 1841. When Eos died a few years later, the couple had a bronze of her made for the grounds at Windsor. It is a portrait made with love and kept as a memorial.
Create your portrait in this style
2. Sleeping Bloodhound
Edwin Landseer, Sleeping Bloodhound, 1835. Oil on canvas. Tate, London.
Countess was a bloodhound who fell to her death from a balcony. Her owner took her to Landseer, who painted her as if she were asleep, her head resting on her paws. It is one of the gentlest pictures in Tate, and the most honest memorial portrait of a dog ever painted.
Best photo: your dog lying down and resting, ideally with the head on the paws.
Create your portrait in this style
3. The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner
Edwin Landseer, The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner, 1837. Oil on canvas. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
The other way round: a sheepdog keeps watch beside his master’s coffin. The critic John Ruskin called it one of the most perfect poems in painting. It is a reminder of what dogs give us, and why losing them hurts so much.
Create your portrait in this style
4. Self-Portrait with a Black Dog
Gustave Courbet, Self-Portrait with a Black Dog, 1842. Oil on canvas. Petit Palais, Paris.
Courbet painted himself in the countryside with his black spaniel at his side. It is a portrait of companionship, and a beautiful way to remember a dog together with the person who walked with them every day.
For: a person with their dog, outdoors.
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5. The Artist's Wife and His Setter Dog
Thomas Eakins, The Artist's Wife and His Setter Dog, 1884. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Thomas Eakins painted his wife Susan, herself a painter, in their Philadelphia house with their setter Harry curled at her feet. Eakins loved the dog and painted him more than once. It is a portrait of a home where the dog was part of the family.
For: a person at home with their dog lying close by.
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6. Young girl with a dog
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Young girl with a dog, 1767. Oil on canvas.
Greuze was the great painter of feeling in eighteenth-century France. His little girl hugs her small black dog with complete trust. For a child who has lost a first pet, it is the gentlest style there is.
For: a child with their dog.
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7. The Dog
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, The Dog, 1751. Oil on canvas.
Oudry painted the royal dogs of Louis XV. This single hound, white with a russet patch and a leather collar, stands in a shaft of light, alert and listening. It is a portrait of a dog in its prime, the way you want to remember them.
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8. Yorkshire Terrier
Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Yorkshire Terrier, 1865. Oil on canvas.
Before she became the great painter of cats, Henriëtte Ronner-Knip painted dogs. Her Yorkshire terrier sits in profile against a golden ground, every silky hair in place. It is the style for a small dog who was the centre of the house.
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9. White Poodle in a Punt
George Stubbs, White Poodle in a Punt, c. 1780. Oil on canvas.
A white poodle stands proudly in a river punt, ready for an outing. Stubbs makes the dog both elegant and comic. For a dog with a sense of occasion, it is a happy way to remember them.
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10. A Woman with a Dog
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, A Woman with a Dog, 1769. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Fragonard’s woman holds her little white dog with a blue ribbon close to her, the two of them clearly inseparable. A portrait of a person and the small dog who went everywhere with them.
For: a person with a small dog in their arms.
Create your portrait in this style
A portrait is a gift that does not ask anything of the person who receives it. It does not need a speech or an explanation, and it will still be on the wall in twenty years. Choose a photo that shows the dog as they were on a good day: outside, in daylight, looking like themselves. If you are giving it to a friend, ask a member of the family for a photo quietly. For more on choosing a memorial portrait, read our guide to a pet memorial portrait as a gift.
Questions
What is a good gift for someone who lost their dog?
A portrait of the dog from a favourite photo is the most personal gift, because it keeps the dog in the room. Order it as a print or a canvas, or as a digital file if you are not sure of their walls.
What photo should I use for a memorial portrait?
The clearest photo you can find in which the dog looks like themselves, ideally in daylight with the eyes sharp. Old phone photos usually work, because the style redraws the setting.
Can I see the portrait before ordering?
Yes. Every style gives a free preview first, so you can try several and choose the one that feels right.
Can the portrait include the person and their dog together?
Yes. Styles such as Courbet’s Self-Portrait with a Black Dog, Eakins’s The Artist’s Wife and His Setter Dog and Greuze’s Young Girl with a Dog are made for a person with their dog.