Print This Post Print This Post


Queen Victoria’s Dog Dash – October 3rd, 2006

The dog name I chose to highlight this week is:

Dash

Queen Victoria was a dog lover and Dash was her prized Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Dash was not one of the short-nosed varieties in vogue at the time.

The Queen’s diary reveals that the same day in 1837 that she was crowned, she came home to give Dash a bath.

Queen Victoria’s mother commissioned Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) to paint a portrait of Dash as a present for her seventeenth birthday.

Throughout her lifetime, Queen Victoria commissioned many dog portraits. Although artwork featuring dogs goes back centuries before her time, her influence significantly increased the popularity of dog art, especially portraits of pet dogs.

Prior to Queen Victoria’s time, dogs in paintings had primarily been represented in sporting scenes.

Picture Credit: Sir Edward Landseer (1802-1873), Queen Victoria’s Dog, "Dash";

Tags:


6 Comments

6 Responses to “Queen Victoria’s Dog Dash”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Cool! Thanks, this really helped me with a story that I am writing about Queen Victoria!

  2. Hilary says:

    That’s great. Thanks for telling me!

  3. Anonymous says:

    Very interesting I never knew she was a dog lover

  4. Diana says:

    Her dog Dash is represented in the movie Young Victoria.. as well as the bath she gives him. I would imagine, he was a great companion for a very lonely young princess.

  5. Maureen says:

    I recently found out that Queen Victoria had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Dash. I also have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Dash. My granddaughter named him after a character in the movie The Incredibles. I find this coincidence incredible.

  6. Debra says:

    I have a tri colored Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Dash! I did not know that Victoria had one of the same. His full name is The Dashing Henry Dashwood, named after a character and family name in Jane Austen novels. I wish I knew why Victoria named her dog Dash!

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply

or cancel