sometimes called “Peace” and “War,” a horse and a lion.
The child’s first favorites are his domestic pets, the dog, the cat, and the bird. Next come the farm animals which the kindergarteners describe as the child’s friends, the hens which give him eggs to eat, and the cow which gives him milk to drink, the sheep which give their wool for his clothes, the horse which carries him to and fro, and the oxen which draw his heavy burdens. Then come the creatures of the woods, the rabbits, squirrels, fox and deer, the beasts of the jungle, the lion and the tiger, the strange creatures of polar regions and the mythical monsters of old poetry and legend.
All children are delighted with pictures of children with their pets, like Hoecker’s little Dutch girl with a kitten, who has won so many child friends. Such pictures are not strictly animal art, but often their chief charm to children is the pet — the first thing to exclaim over as they fall upon the picture with rapture. Many portrait painters have represented their juvenile sitters with their pets, notably Velasquez. The Prince Baltasar Carlos on his pony illustrates almost every quality we desire in a child’s picture. We hardly know which is more charming, the sleek little animal with his plump round body or the joyous child astride him. The same young prince with his hunting dog is also a notable work in the Prado Museum. There is tremendous latent power in that big, lazy-looking creature lying beside his young master. Van Dyck several times painted his Prince Charles with a
