A gift book for the die-hard love any dog person. This beautifully produced 158 x 142 mm hard back with full gloss dustjacket is a celebration of the dog with samples of the works housed at the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) with matched quotations.
The information on the artworks featured is included at the end, you may need a magnifying glass to read the notations though. The quotes are, naturally, credited where they are featured, but there is more information at the conclusion of the book too. This makes the book a useful resource for follow up investigation, but as a purebreed researcher it is of little value as many of the chosen artworks featured indistinguishable breeds. As a source of research into handling art mediums it is also of little value. As a compendium of the penetration into society as demonstrated by a diverse range of materials used to feature dogs, it is intriguing, apart from the typical oil painting, plaited rugs, embroidery, photography and watercolour media are also incorporated in to the slender volume. The quotes are sometimes familiar, sometimes not, the charm of them is that the editor (Shari Thompson) has matched the theme of the artwork with the quote.
For a stocking filler or for someone who loves dogs for being dogs this is a delightful title.