Reigning Cats and Dogs: A History of Pets at Court Since the Renaissance

In 1434, Jan van Eyck painted his Arnolfini Marriage and, in so doing, made art history. What van Eyck did, which no previous painter had ever saw fit to do (according to Kenneth Clark), was to include in his masterpiece a little pet dog. Van Eyck has a lot to answer for. By the time you're a few pages into Katharine MacDonogh's book, you'll realize that dogs and cats (and the occasional monkey) must be in virtually every subsequent work of art--especially if that work of art also features a representative of the royal family.