Dalmatian Dogs 

James Ward painted these Dalmatian Dogs with oil on canvas, likely sometime in the early 19th century. Ward was an accomplished painter of animals, and here he's showcasing his skill in capturing their physicality through close observation. Notice the smoothness of the paint application, especially in the foreground, with details like the dogs' spots and musculature brought out through the use of fine brushes. The landscape in the background is rendered more loosely, with visible brushstrokes that give the scene depth and atmosphere. In its day, this would have been considered a fine art painting, not craft. But let's consider the social context. Ward was part of a lineage of artists who had to master their trade, grinding their own pigments and preparing canvases. In this light, the painting becomes not just an image, but an accumulation of labor, expertise, and material transformation. This attention to the making process allows us to see how even the most refined artwork is rooted in the same values of skill, time, and effort that we celebrate in craft traditions.