The Faith of St Bernard circa 1895
by Peter Ogden
Title
The Faith of St Bernard circa 1895
Artist
Peter Ogden
Medium
Painting - Oil On Canvas
Description
This is an enhanced and restored copy of The Faith of St. Bernard, a circa 1895 oil on canvas painting by John Emms.
John Emms (1844 – 1 November 1912) was an English artist.
Emms was born in Blofield, Norfolk, the son of artist Henry William Emms. He became an avid hunter and became famous for his paintings of horses, and of dogs, particularly foxhounds and terriers. He exhibited at the Royal Academy several times, beginning in 1866. His paintings are signed “Jno Emms”.
He married Fanny Primmer of Lyndhurst, Hampshire, in 1880. The couple lived in London for a time but returned to Lyndhurst in 1881 and built a large house and studio named The Firs, where Emms lived for the rest of his life. He died in Lyndhurst.
His painting of "Callum" a Dandie Dinmont Terrier hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland. In 1919, the owner of the dog, James Cowan Smith, donated £55,000 (£2,689,000 in 2021) to the National Gallery of Scotland with a requirement that obliged them to display the painting on its walls in perpetuity.
Emms is considered a painter of great ability. According to the American Kennel Club, his painting The New Forest Foxhounds is valued at an estimated $800,000–$1.2 million.
Bernard of Menthon was a canon regular and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard. He is the namesake of the Saint Bernard breed of dog, originally bred for the cold environment of the hospice.
The St. Bernard or Saint Bernard (UK: /ˈbɜːrnərd/, US: /bərˈnɑːrd/) is a breed of very large working dog from the Western Alps in Italy and Switzerland. They were originally bred for rescue work by the hospice of the Great St Bernard Pass on the Italian-Swiss border. The hospice, built by and named after the Alpine monk Saint Bernard of Menthon, acquired its first dogs between 1660 and 1670. The breed has become famous through tales of Alpine rescues, as well as for its large size, and gentle temperament.
The St. Bernard is recognized internationally today as one of the molosser breeds. It is a giant dog. The coat can be either smooth or rough; the smooth coat being close and flat, while the rough is dense, flat, and more profuse around the neck and legs. The colour is typically a red shade with white, or a mahogany brindle with white. Black shading is usually found on the face and ears. The tail is long and heavy, hanging high. The eyes are usually brown, but sometimes can be icy blue, and should have naturally tight lids, with haws only slightly visible.
The earliest written records of the St. Bernard are from monks at the Great St Bernard Hospice at the Great St Bernard Pass in 1707, with paintings and drawings of the dog dating even earlier. Early British accounts of the breed described the breed as the Alpine Spaniel. The first evidence that the dogs were in use at the monastery is in two paintings dating to 1690 by Italian artist Salvator Rosa. The most famous St. Bernard to save people at the pass was Barry (sometimes spelled Berry), who reportedly saved somewhere between 40 and 100 lives. There is a monument to Barry in the Cimetière des Chiens, and his body was preserved in the Natural History Museum in Bern.
Another famous dog was Rutor, the faithful companion of the Italian priest Pierre Chanoux, who was named after the peak Tête du Rutor located above the Little St. Bernard pass. The classic St. Bernard looked very different from the St. Bernard of today because of crossbreeding. Severe winters from 1816 to 1818 led to increased numbers of avalanches, killing many of the dogs used for breeding while they were performing rescues. In an attempt to preserve the breed, the remaining St. Bernards were crossed with Newfoundlands brought from the Colony of Newfoundland in the 1850s, as well as with other breeds, and so lost much of their use as rescue dogs in the snowy climate of the Alps because the long fur they inherited would freeze and weigh them down.
The dogs never received any special training from the monks. Instead, younger dogs would learn how to perform search and rescue operations from older dogs.
The Swiss St. Bernard Club was founded in Basel on 15 March 1884. The St. Bernard was the first breed entered into the Swiss Stud Book in 1884, and the breed standard was finally approved in 1888. Since then, the breed has been a Swiss national dog.
During World War I St. Bernard dogs assisted the Red Cross and were used to carry supplies to troops in the Italian mountains, stationed in places inaccessible to mules and horses.
The dogs at the Great St Bernard Hospice were working dogs that were smaller than today's show St. Bernards. Originally about the size of a German Shepherd Dog, the St. Bernard grew to the size of today's dog as kennel clubs and dog shows emphasized appearance over the dog's working ability, along with a closed stud book.
An open stud book would have allowed breeders to correct such errors by breeding in working dogs of other dog breeds.
The name "St. Bernard" originates from the Great St Bernard Hospice, a traveler's hospice on the often treacherous Great St Bernard Pass in the Western Alps, between Switzerland and Italy. The pass, the lodge, and the dogs are named for Bernard of Menthon, the 11th century Italian monk who established the station.
"St. Bernard" was not in widespread use until the middle of the 19th century. The dogs were called "Saint Dogs", "Noble Steeds", or "Barry Dogs" before that time.
Uploaded
June 8th, 2023
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