In Vittore Carpaccio's St Augustine in his Study (1501-5)'the little white dog steals the show': he directs us to the painting's meaning, in essence 'the saint and his dog are in this together, witnesses to the revelation of Jerome's death.' For more about the dog's gaze do read this article in the New Yorker by Adam Gopnik (it was his acquisition of a Havanese all those years ago that inspired our acquiring Gilbert, the office dog).

In Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House (1670) by Pieter de Hooch the dog's white nose 'is in a direct line to the girl who is standing between shadow and light and pointing the way out. It could be looking at her as if nothing were happening. But it isn't. It is looking over its shoulder at the shadowed space where the painter is standing and from which we too are looking through the room to the threshold of the brightly lit courtyard.... Meanwhile, as the girl and the dog are starting to respond to the entrance of the messenger, the little dog  on the woman's lap has already noticed him.' Here at the Rijksmuseum website is this beautiful painting in more detail.

Bronzino's Portrait of a Lady in Red 1533: Laqueur wonders why the lady in red wanted the dog in her portrait. 'To start with, perhaps because she cares about the dog, perhaps even loves it. She might have thought that it humanises her and reflects her sensibilities... it also transforms the image... it mediates between his mistress and the world and emphasises the distance between her and us although it also makes her look a little less haughty (pp 21-2). (But one might take issue with 'perhaps even loves it': she obviously loves it!)

The subject of the Post this week is a marvellous new book: The Dog's Gaze by Thomas W Laqueur. It is a mixture of art history, aesthetics, dogginess and eccentricity, highly recommended whether or not you are a dog lover. First up: The Arnolfini Portrait. The dog 'is not looking at the perspective vanishing point – at the mirror and its infinite regress of images – but at some position outside of the painting from which the painter and the viewer see it. Like the writing on the wall above the mirror, the animal opens the seemingly closed world of the couple' (p. 17). In fact the dog makes the couple less stylised, less formal, more 'homely', ironically more human.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery (1913-22, W&S Owen, free entry) is the centrepiece of Port Sunlight. It houses William Lever's vast personal collection and includes a fine selection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Lever was very forward-thinking in terms of advertising and bought several paintings by leading artists of the day which were then branded and turned into print adverts. This one is based on The Wedding Morning (Lady Lever Art Gallery, 1892) by John Bacon. 

At the centre of the village is a magnificent, Grade I listed war memorial which was commissioned by William Lever as early as 1916 and completed in 1921. It is by Sir William Goscombe John and  commemorates the lives of Lever Brothers employees who died in both world wars. Its title is 'Defence of the Realm' and, movingly, it includes a number of women, children, and infants.

William Lever is quoted in the excellent guide to Port Sunlight saying, 'Few self-contained communities are richer than Port Sunlight in social and educational institutions and in buildings to house them'. One example is Hulme Hall (1901, William and Segar Owen) which was designed to provide dining facilities for female factory employees. After a canteen was provided at the factory, it was used as a gallery and is now an events venue. The plaque outside explains that it was the location of Ringo Starr's first official performance as a Beatle on 18th August, 1962.