February 16th 2025 | DAF

“A strange dog was sitting calmly among the ruins of the feast” | Alice Barber Stephens, 1905

I appreciate the title’s attempt to preserve the dog’s innocence. Everyone (person or animal) has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Although, the fact that dog stayed at the scene of the crime seems like a fatal mistake. The girl’s seem to have just stumbled onto the scene and likely missed the destruction of the feast, but the dolls scattered around the table seem like star witnesses to me. Good luck to this dog’s defense attorney.

Walking into a room to find that your dog has destroyed the room or eaten a whole array of food is a timeless experience. This same drawing could be created today, and 120 years later, the feeling of this moment is still understood. I have always appreciated art that depicts the mundane things in the world or the day to day happenings of the world. Sometimes, they capture something specific to a moment in time, but oftentimes, these more casual and simple scenes are what remain relatable to people viewing the art decades or centuries later.