Dog and Bear

Seated on rounded bases, the alert, small-scale, bronze dog and bear lean forward inquisitively, turning their heads in opposite directions. The symmetrical arrangement suggests that they were designed as framing elements, perhaps for a staircase or a fireplace in a hunting lodge. The anonymous artist's lively rendering of the textures of fur and hair is directly transferred from the wax model from which he cast the work. Disregarding scale, the artist made the animals the same size. The dog's spiked metal collar refers to the contemporary sport of bear-baiting, a popular entertainment in Renaissance Europe, yet the calmness of the animals belies the tension of this sport.

In the 1500s realistic animal sculptures became popular in Europe, partly as a result of the new interest in nature. Artists often designed animal sculptures for the private homes, fountains, and grottoes of their aristocratic patrons.