We know that Valentine’s Day can be tricky at times. But who said that love can only happen between humans? The best friend is sometimes another species! Breton Riviere, the painting I am introducing today, was a British artist. He exhibited various paintings at the Royal Academy but devoted most of his life to painting animals, which he really loved. In a lengthy interview in the Chums Boys Annual, titled “How I Paint Animals,” Riviere explained some of the uses of tame and wild animal painting: “I’ve always been a big fan of dogs, but I’ve worked so hard on them. I am tired of having them about me. However, you can never paint a dog unless you are passionate about it.I would never work from a dog. A dog without the help of a man well acquainted with animals … Gypsies are, in my opinion, the most restless dogs … Greyhounds are very restless, and so are fox terriers … The only way to paint wild animals is to Gradually gather a lot of study and a lot of knowledge about the animal itself, before you can paint its image … I paint dead animals as well as living animals. I have the body of a good lion. Studio… I have done a lot of work in the dissecting rooms of the Zoological Gardens from time to time.”
But back to today’s painting: if you ever feel down, don’t forget your animal friends