The 16 Greatest Animal Symbols in Famous Paintings

A lapdog can mean marriage and a black cat its opposite. Pick the creature that carries the most meaning in its painting.

1. 1
   The Dog of Venus of Urbino

   The sleeping lapdog at the feet of Titian's Venus, which the Uffizi reads as fidelity in marriage.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Olympia's Black Cat

   Manet's arched black cat that replaced Titian's faithful dog and turned the meaning upside down.
   1000pts

   BE
3. 3
   Raphael's Unicorn

   The tiny unicorn in Young Woman with Unicorn, a symbol of chastity painted over an earlier dog.
   945pts
4. 4
   The Arnolfini Dog

   The small terrier between the couple in van Eyck's 1434 portrait, often read as a sign of marital fidelity.
   862pts
5. 5
   The Fly on the Frame

   The painted fly on Petrus Christus's 1446 Portrait of a Carthusian, a trompe-l'oeil sign that the portrait is alive.
   764pts
6. 6
   Bassano's Cat by Judas

   The cat at Judas's feet in Jacopo Bassano's Last Supper, the traditional animal of evil next to the traitor.
   764pts
7. 7
   The Conjurer's Owl and Frog

   The owl in the magician's basket and the frog from the victim's mouth, Bosch's signs of blindness and the devil.
   647pts
8. 8
   The Ermine

   The animal in Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine, a nod to Ludovico Sforza, a sign of purity and a pun on the sitter's name.
   503pts
9. 9
   Fabritius's Goldfinch

   The chained pet bird in Carel Fabritius's 1654 painting, painted months before he died in the Delft explosion.
   503pts
10. 10
    Bruegel's Two Monkeys

    Two monkeys chained in a window over Antwerp, people bound to their instincts for a nutshell.
    503pts
11. 11
    Titian's White Rabbit

    The rabbit under Mary's hand in Madonna of the Rabbit, a sign of fertility and the Incarnation.
    503pts
12. 12
    Del Cossa's Snail

    The snail crawling along the bottom edge of Francesco del Cossa's Annunciation, as if on the frame itself.
    503pts
13. 13
    Raphael's Goldfinch

    The bird the infant John hands to Christ in the Madonna del Cardellino, a sign of the coming Passion.
    0pts
14. 14
    The Mystic Lamb

    The Lamb of God at the center of the Ghent Altarpiece, whose near-human face reappeared in the 2019 restoration.
    0pts
15. 15
    The Dog under Judas

    The dog gnawing a bone beneath Judas in Rubens's Last Supper, read as fidelity or as greed.
    0pts
16. 16
    Dürer's Four Temperaments

    The cat, rabbit, ox and elk in Dürer's 1504 Adam and Eve, standing for the four human temperaments.
    0pts

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