• 873
  • More

original Irish wolfhound painting at the Tate Gallery in UK

[quote=vanvan]Hi folks, here, in this link, you will see how the original Irish Wolfhound were, not the "recreated" breed of 19 century, which is no more in my opinion, that a hugh deerhound. This original portrait, is located in The Tate Gallery in London, represents a portrait of Sir Neil O´Neill, was painted in 1680 [/quote] Vanvan - Do you have any historical documentation to support this claim? It is a well known fact that many portait artist of those days took libertys with their portaits. Without any supporting documents, how can we be sure the rather greyhound looking dog in the portait is a representive of the ancent Irish Wolfhound? Let alone even the Lordship's own dog. Or for that matter if the man even did go to field to hunt? The only thing I could find on his life and times was thios: "Sir Neill O Neill (1658-90), the eldest son of Sir Hugh O Neill of Shane's Castle at Antrim, of the Clandeboy family, had the dangerous assignment of stopping the first wave of King William's troops crossing the Boyne at Rossnaree in 1690. He was fatally wounded and was later buried in Waterford." I owned an Irish Wolf hound in the 80's. Without a doupt, the current WH's wouldn't have the tempermwent to hunt & kill a wolf. I also doupt that the anceint dogs grew to the current standard.
3
1
1
Replies (4)
    • Hi folks, here, in this link, you will see how the original Irish Wolfhound were, not the "recreated" breed of 19 century, which is no more in my opinion, that a hugh deerhound. This original portrait, is located in The Tate Gallery in London, represents a portrait of Sir Neil O´Neill, was painted in 1680 Enjoy!!!! http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=16481&searchid=14441&tabview=image
      • Thanks for posting that link. Very educational and shows the utility of dogs in centuries past.
        • [quote=vanvan]Hi folks, here, in this link, you will see how the original Irish Wolfhound were, not the "recreated" breed of 19 century, which is no more in my opinion, that a hugh deerhound. This original portrait, is located in The Tate Gallery in London, represents a portrait of Sir Neil O´Neill, was painted in 1680 [/quote] Vanvan - Do you have any historical documentation to support this claim? It is a well known fact that many portait artist of those days took libertys with their portaits. Without any supporting documents, how can we be sure the rather greyhound looking dog in the portait is a representive of the ancent Irish Wolfhound? Let alone even the Lordship's own dog. Or for that matter if the man even did go to field to hunt? The only thing I could find on his life and times was thios: "Sir Neill O Neill (1658-90), the eldest son of Sir Hugh O Neill of Shane's Castle at Antrim, of the Clandeboy family, had the dangerous assignment of stopping the first wave of King William's troops crossing the Boyne at Rossnaree in 1690. He was fatally wounded and was later buried in Waterford." I owned an Irish Wolf hound in the 80's. Without a doupt, the current WH's wouldn't have the tempermwent to hunt & kill a wolf. I also doupt that the anceint dogs grew to the current standard.
          • Hi Platz!!! This portrait was on a dog enciclopedia, who mentioned that this dog was an Irish wolfhound, for me, makes sense because the last name of this man was irish, and many old refferences about the irish wolfhound tell that they were huge grayhounds, and this dog looks like those mentioned before, and this portrait was done in the irish wolfhound golden era. Also, I think this man was irish. After looking the name of the man, and brousing in the net, i found this picture in the Tate gallery of UK, further historical information must be there Regards
            Login or Join to comment.
            Discussions With Recent Posts
            1-6