Four Dachshund puppies 

Curator: This irresistibly charming work is “Four Dachshund Puppies," an oil painting, it is believed, by Carl Reichert. Immediately striking, don't you think? Editor: Absolutely, almost overwhelmingly adorable. It's that perfect storm of puppy-dog eyes and slightly awkward poses. The composition is clever in its simplicity: just a straight line of these little sausages, evenly spaced. There is obviously oil-paint, but I'd be interested to know more about canvas support and how the production occurred. Curator: I'm tickled by your "sausage" comment, it’s a frank image indeed. And true, the minimal staging places the emphasis firmly on the individual personalities, wouldn’t you agree? Each little face seems to offer a different shade of puppy-dog innocence, perhaps a slightly human yearning. They are practically begging for a treat. Editor: I agree with you. But it strikes me that these "portraits" aren't so different than ones made of nobles. Who bought this? Where would it have been displayed? Pet ownership is work, and paintings like these conceal that labor under an aura of affection and accessibility. Curator: Yes! It's funny, isn't it? We sentimentalize animals, elevating them in our affections while simultaneously shaping them for our purposes. Reichert does an extraordinary job capturing that tension, wouldn't you say? The glazes he achieves, in order to give them dimension… marvelous. It reminds us how strange it is that we create so many items as representations of things that we already like. Editor: That representation requires significant raw materials and human work, not merely some passing affectation or momentary bliss! From the perspective of an artisan, a patron who could afford to commission an animal portrait had wealth that had to be accounted for, and it seems natural to consider that work too. It is almost invisible now, though. Curator: Well, I for one will never look at a puppy the same way. Editor: Precisely, thinking through painting forces the perspective into more useful ideas about class and materiality.