Book review by Simon Parsons

Nick goes on to deal with Pugs portraits: from William Hogarth to Christine Merrill, the Pug with its impish charms and irresistible eyes has been a muse for skilled painters down the centuries. Hogarth’s self-portrait in Tate Britain also features his leggy and rather ugly ‘Pug’, Trump. We carry on through the Victorian age and ‘the golden age of dog portraiture’ via Landseer, Maud Earl and many others down to the present. Artists from Holland, Belgium and the USA are not ignored. 

Some of the paintings feature dogs of importance in breed history such as the foundation stock of the famous Willoughby Pugs, Mrs Carrick-Buchanan’s Drumpellier dogs and various champions of their day. 

No breed, surely, has as many figurines of interest to the serious collector, indeed one can be spoilt for choice. Nick describes the fascinating development of the classic Meissen Pug, intimately linked with the story of how porcelain manufacture began in the West. Other German factories followed suit and some continue producing Pugs to this day. British makes and artists from Chelsea to Beswick and Sylvac and on to Sylvia Smith have their own chapter. 

Even if your means do not run to paintings or porcelain, there is still plenty of Pug memorabilia to collect and Nick deals comprehensively with Victorian photographic carte and cabinet cards, cigarette cards and postcards featuring the breed. 

A pure history of any breed in art, although enjoyable for the specialist, can be a touch dry for the general reader; what is needed is the personal touch and this is supplied by the rest of the book. You can find out about Lady Brassey, Victorian pioneer of the black Pug; the Pugs and Pug objects, owned by the Christie family of Glyndebourne fame – Sir George wrote the foreword – Dutch collector Wim Jansen with an obsession for both Napoleon and Pugs; American breeder/enthusiast Charlotte Patterson; Lynne Whittaker’s hoard in London; and above all American films star Sylvia Sidney’s Pug treasures. 

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