Susanna Calkins, Author
  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction
  • New Page

The secret seventeenth-century origins of "Dogs playing Poker"?

3/8/2012

18 Comments

 
I can't be the only one who's stared at "Dogs Playing Poker" wondering what the artist was thinking (or drinking, smoking, etc.) when he dreamed up this crazy, but fun, image.
Picture
Exhibit A: "A Friend in Need" (part of "Dogs Playing Poker" series)


Who doesn't love the bulldog passing his friend the ace?  Pure unadulterated American kitch!

Or is it???!   I will call this painting Exhibit A.

I ask you now  to consider Exhibit B, below.


Picture
Exhibit B: Apes and cat playing poker (well, cards--there was no poker yet)
Exhibit B was created by Anonymous in London 1646.

Now, compare the two pieces carefully. Some differences...monkeys and cats, not dogs.  A trumping card game, not poker. Some odd verse under the second one.

But otherwise, Exhibit A and B are exactly the same, right? Both feature animals smoking, drinking, and, well, playing cards.  An ace is prominent in both. Clearly, Coolidge's twentieth century collection was inspired by the seventeenth-century piece. 

No, I kid! 

When I came across Anonymous' (1646) woodcut, I was just struck by the superficial similarities to the more famous paintings. Actually, as you might surmise, since these two pieces had entirely different purposes and images, that it's rather silly to compare them.


But I will anyway...

As the story goes,  C.M. Coolidge was commissioned by an advertising firm, Browne and Bigelow, in 1903 to create the iconic series of oil paintings, collectively called "Dogs Playing Poker." The purpose was to sell cigars.  (In Exhibit A, after the viewer takes in the ace, his or her eye will also be drawn to the smoking pipe just behind it).

On the other hand, the Thomason Tracts catalog says the woodcut in Exhibit B is "An engraving representing a monkey and a cat playing at cards; with descriptive verses denouncing card-playing." The text underneath the image reads:
"Puss my aple gainst thy mouse Ile lay
The gam's mine ifth aft n'er a trump to play.
Mister apes face tart deceived in mee
I have many trumpsters one dost see.

For a pint of wine the drawer call
I come o prittie d'ye see this squall
Apes and catts to play at cards are fitt
Men and women ought to have more witt.
"
Huh? 

Basically, Anonymous was taking a good Puritan stance against card playing; after all, Cromwell's Parliament had banned all gambling and gaming by the mid-seventeenth century.  And nothing depicts moral decay and mental decline more readily than apes and a cat playing cards.

So maybe the two pieces had different--okay, completely opposite--messages.  Or-r-r-r, maybe we've hit on the secret seventeenth-century Puritanical origins of "Dogs Playing Poker."


What do you think?  You tell me!

Picture
(And just because these are so much fun, I'll leave you with "Pinched with Four Aces" to ponder. Discuss amongst yourselves!)

18 Comments
bekerys
3/10/2012 03:52:02 am

Very interesting. But what game would cats be playing if cats were depicted? Why, Go Fish, of course. I always just thought (when I thought about it at all) that this was taking a good-natured jab at the pure-bred gentlemen who had nothing else to do but lose their money and inheritances at the card tables. Leave it to an historian to dig deeper....

Reply
Susie link
3/11/2012 01:01:02 am

Beckerys! Go Fish! Hilarious!

And I think you're right about the gentlemanly pursuit of cards--although apparently even Coolidge may have been commenting on the back room shenanigans of many a tavern wastrel (or the wheelings and dealings of businessmen over cards).

Reply
Susie
3/11/2012 12:57:03 am

I really liked this comment I received via twitter, so I got crime writer's Michael Gregorio's (http://www.michaelgregorio.it/) permission to paste in. He sad: "Nice piece! Using animals as symbols of vice was common in the past. You dog! Promoting vice (gambling) is a 20th century phenom." Michael is completely right--criminals, Satan,and the different vices were regularly portrayed by common domestic animals (cats, dogs, goats, etc, especially those animals with horns).

Reply
Matt
3/12/2012 01:05:08 am

You had me at 'dogs playing poker.' This blog reminds me of a line from a BNL song, "It's all been done before." I wonder if there were also ancient Egyptian paintings of gambling cats or cave drawings of elk playing games of chance?!?

Reply
Susie link
8/10/2012 06:24:28 am

Matt--ha! funny! Or maybe on a distant planet (BSG anyone?)

Reply
Virginia Beach Girls link
7/11/2012 04:04:52 am

Nice blog, I found it from Weebly's top blogs.

Reply
Susie link
8/10/2012 06:19:34 am

Thanks for the nice comment! sorry I missed it!

Reply
Vanda Lavar link
8/10/2012 12:53:39 am

As an artist, this is one of my favorite pieces of work. Havig just completed my own piece, titled, "The Descendants," I more than ever appreciate your fine historical perspective. My dogs have a surf board and are playing inside a log cabin in Yosemite with Yosemite Valley clearly out the shuttered window.

Reply
Susie link
8/10/2012 06:22:20 am

Vanda, your work is great! (I checked out your site!). I really like when artists explain their thinking. It helps me appreciate their work more. thanks for stopping by!

Reply
gambling course link
9/27/2012 07:05:09 pm

There some very impressive points in your blog. I must appreciate your excellent work. I find the blog post very interesting and moreover very informative. I am thinking to write a piece on related topic. Will definitely share it and waiting to read some more interesting blogs from you.

Reply
Susie link
9/28/2012 06:07:24 am

Thanks! Let me know when you write your entry.

Reply
women clothing link
9/24/2013 04:43:47 pm

Basically, anonymous was captivating a high-quality Puritan posture against card playing; following all, Cromwell's Parliament had banned all gambling and gaming by the mid-seventeenth century. And nothing depicts moral decay and cerebral decline extra freely than apes and a cat playing cards.

Reply
Aristocrat Pokies link
10/5/2016 03:33:52 pm

but the cash winnings some players have scored will make this app appealing to experienced poker masters as well.

Reply
adguardapk.info link
9/7/2018 10:42:45 pm

LOL, thats an impressive share, thanks xD

Reply
Sweta Parikh link
9/27/2022 04:57:21 am

What an exquisite article! Your post is beneficial right now. Thank you for sharing this informative one. If you're looking for a money-making app, download this link https://bit.ly/3MSDRA9

Reply
Ollie Charles link
10/25/2022 11:52:16 pm

Thanks for the information l read your article l am very impressive

Reply
Coupon Plus Deals link
1/12/2023 05:32:10 am

Excellent article! Thank you for your excellent post, and I look forward to the next one. If you're seeking for discount codes and offers, go to couponplusdeals.com.

Reply
M.Tanvir link
2/2/2023 05:33:58 am

Thanks ,This information is very helpful for everyone

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    1660s
    16th Century
    17th Century
    18th Century
    1910s
    1920s
    19th C.
    20th Century
    21st Century
    A Death Along The River Fleet
    Advertisements
    Alcohol
    Alpha Reader
    Amazon Pre Order
    Amazon Pre-order
    A Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Anagrams
    Anne Perry
    Anthology
    Art
    Authorship
    Award
    Awards
    Blogger's Block
    Blogging
    Blog Hop
    Blog Tour
    Bloody Good Read
    Bombings
    Book Events
    Book Giveaway
    Booksellers
    Book Trade
    Bouchercon
    Calendars
    Card Playing
    Caricature
    Cats
    Chambermaid
    Characters
    Charles I
    Charles Ii
    Charles Todd
    Chicago
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Cia
    Cockney Slang
    Cocktails
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Contemporary
    Cover Design
    Covers
    Creativity
    Crime
    Criminals
    Critical Thinking
    Cromwell
    Crossroads
    Csikszentmihalyi
    Cuckold
    Curiosities
    Defoe
    Detectives
    Detectives Oath
    Disease
    Dogs
    Early Modern
    Easter
    Editing
    Edwardian England
    Etymology
    Examples
    Excerpt Marg
    Excerpts
    Fairs
    Fate Of A Flapper
    Feedback
    Female Protagonists
    Female Sleuths
    Fire Of London
    Flow
    Food
    Forensics
    Forms Of Address
    French History
    From The Charred Remains
    Ftcr
    Future
    Games
    Gangs
    Giveaways
    Golden Hind
    Great Fire
    Great War
    Grit
    Guest Blogs
    Guest Interviews
    Guest Post
    Guest Posts
    Guilds
    Hanging
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Mysteries
    History
    Imagination
    Inspiration
    Interviews
    Ireland
    ITW Authors
    Jests
    Jewelry
    Language
    Last Dying Speeches
    Leisure
    Libraries
    London Bridge
    Lucy Campion
    Macavity
    Magistrate
    Malice Domestic
    Maps
    MARG
    Markets
    Masque Of A Murderer
    Matg
    Medicine
    Medieval
    Medieval Period
    Memory
    Merriments
    Merry-making
    Methodists
    Midwives
    Mindset
    Miscellany
    Monsters
    Moonstone
    Motivation
    Murder
    Murder At Rosamund's Gate
    Murder Ballad
    Murder Knocks Twice
    Mysteries
    Mystery
    Mystery Tv Shows
    Newgate
    Newspapers
    New Woman
    Nietzsche
    Nursery Rhymes
    Opera
    Orwell
    Persistence
    Pets
    Philadelphia
    Piracy
    Pirates
    Plagiarism
    Plague
    Poison
    Popular Film
    Popular Press
    Potions
    Printers Row Lit Fest
    Printing
    Private Investigators
    Proactive Interference
    Procrastination
    Prohibition
    Promoting Books
    Pseudonyms
    Psychology
    Publication
    Public Executions
    Publishing
    Punishments
    Puritans
    Puzzles
    Quakers
    Radio Shows
    Reader Questions
    Reading
    Receipts
    Reformation
    Rejection
    Religion
    Research
    Restoration
    Riddles
    River Fleet
    Samuel Pepys
    Scene Development
    Science Fiction
    Scold's Bridle
    Secret London
    Setting
    Seven Things
    Shakespeare
    Short Story
    Sign Of The Gallows
    Sleuths In Time
    Smithfield
    Speakeasy Mysteries
    Speech
    Spying
    Strange Things
    Teaching
    Thank You
    The 1640s
    The 1650s
    The 1660s
    Theater
    Thief-taker
    Timeline
    Titles
    Travel
    True Crime
    Tyburn Tree
    Valentine
    Wilkie Collins
    Winchester Palace
    Witches
    Women
    World-building
    Writier's Life
    Writing
    Writing Prompts
    Young Adult

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
  • 17th c. England
  • Writing Resources
  • Nonfiction
  • New Page