The Dog Killer 1870

William P. Chappel painted "The Dog Killer" probably sometime in the mid-19th century. It's rendered in oil on canvas. Here we see a man with a club, presumably the dog killer, leading a dog through town. If you look closely, you can see small red spots which we can only assume are drops of blood. What are we to make of this disturbing subject matter? Well, in 19th-century America, dogs were often seen as a nuisance, particularly stray dogs who were thought to spread disease. Municipal authorities contracted people like the one shown here to cull the dog population, which was considered to be a public service. Understanding art like this requires us to do our homework. We need to know about the history of public health, and about changing attitudes toward animals. We can go to libraries and archives to research such issues, and when we do, art like this gives us a window into the values and beliefs of a different time.