A Mastiff with a Gold-Tooled Collar 

Jakob Walther made this drawing of a mastiff around the turn of the 17th century, using watercolor and gouache on laid paper. Though these are traditional fine art materials, the subject matter is quite unusual. Walther was not so interested in allegory, religion, or portraiture, but in the natural world. The rendering of the dog is incredibly detailed. You can see the texture of its fur, and the subtle gradations of color that define its musculature. The gold-tooled collar is also rendered with care, suggesting the dog’s high status. It's a very careful study, perhaps intended as a record for a wealthy patron, or maybe it was simply for the artist’s own curiosity. Whatever the purpose, the amount of labor that went into this artwork is quite remarkable. You can see how Walther has built up the image layer by layer, using tiny strokes of the brush to create a sense of depth and realism. This kind of meticulousness was characteristic of the northern Renaissance, when artists took great pride in their technical skill. And it reminds us that “high art” has always depended on skilled hand work.