Cleveland Museum of Art

Robert Hotz Esquire and Bulldog

Date

1887

Medium

albumen print

Culture

India

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Robert Hotz (1844–1923), a professional photographer with studios in Calcutta and Shimla, poses with his bulldog, a breed that had symbolized England since the 1700s. Many British people came with or imported dogs to India. The British relied on their Indian servants to walk, feed, and care for the animals. Before the British arrived, Indian people rarely kept dogs as pets. Historically, in Indian art, dogs and jackals were associated with cremation grounds and were not folded into scenes of domestic life.

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