Reigning Cats and Dogs: A History of Pets at Court Since the Renaissance

Queens distressed by duty, kings seeking unconditional affection and stressed-out, isolated heirs-apparent have all had frequent recourse to feline and canine companions. MacDonogh's detail-rich, frequently gossipy book is a panorama of facts and anecdotes concerning royal and aristocratic spaniels, Corgis, Abyssinians, Persians, poodles, dachshunds and more. Every dynasty in modern Europe seems to have had four-legged friends, and MacDonogh tries to cover them all, with special attention to France, Russia and the U.K. Readers who already know the lives of occidental monarchs may find themselves drawn instead to MacDonogh's stories of China, India and Southeast Asia. (Ming emperors loved their cats and banned dogs from the palace.) Dutch and later English portrait paintings furnish useful records of royal companion animals, and this volume devotes some space to the relevant artists, including Van Dyck, Hogarth and George Stubbs. (Cats remain second to dogs in portraiture, since painters find it hard to make cats sit still.) A historian addressing a nonacademic audience, MacDonogh writes with precision if rarely with verve, presenting no overarching argument, but offering, instead, a work to be browsed for pleasure or consulted for reference. Gossip-lovers, dog-lovers, dog-haters and Russophiles might all enjoy learning how the young Catherine the Great's affair with Count Poniatowski came to light: Catherine's little dog greeted the count with warmth while barking at less-familiar noblemen. (Nov.)