The Finest Dog Portrait Painter
San Francisco painter Jacqueline Probert has created a passionate following for her classic, elegant portraits—of beloved dogs. Capturing the divinity of dogs is her higher calling. Meet these canines and be inspired by Jackie’s spirit.
Jacqueline Probert has painted the adored dogs of several of my friends. I first met her through Nelson Bloncourt, the former owner of the late great Alabaster style store in San Francisco. Jacqueline is now displaying her work at Gump’s in San Francisco.
Jacqueline, a chic and stylish friend, is also a favorite among California interior designers as the official portraitist for their pampered and divine dogs.
What I admire most: her elegant portraits are not sentimental. They’re elegant, classical, and they portray these handsome dogs with such artistry. Think Stubbs and his 18th-century portraits of thoroughbred horses. Think Velasquez or Matisse—classic art. These dogs, as captured by Jackie’s brush, are noble, frisky, serious, high-minded, regal, gloriously handsome, loving, and knowing. Come and meet a very special and talented artist.
“I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.” – Samuel Johnson, 1787
Come and meet Jackie—you will be uplifted.
I sat down with Jackie recently in her San Francisco, and, surrounded by her fine dog portraits, we chatted of dogs, their people companions, and capturing the beauty and mystery of beloved canines.
Jacqueline Probert, of Probert Art based in San Francisco, has been creating murals, trompe l´oeil works, faux finishes, and glorious custom wall glazes since 1985. Partners Jacqueline Probert and her husband Ted Somogyi combine their artistry and experience with a genuine love and in-depth knowledge of art, artists, and the history of painting. Jackie and Ted believe that “beauty is our highest calling. Jacqueline is also an avid animal welfare advocate and a Pets Unlimited trustee and supporter of other altruistic pet groups.
DDS: Your approach is that of the finest French and English portraitists.
JPS: There are many animal portraitists who have influenced me in different ways. Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a French painter who in 1749 painted a life-size portrait of the famous traveling rhino, Clara. I made the trip down to LA’s Getty museum to see it and others of his works. He used a white ground for his paintings, and I started doing this also, noticing increased brightness in my colors. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) did wonderful, delicate and seductive work. She has influenced me to paint from nature, in my case at the San Francisco Zoo, where I love the kangaroos. We have for influence everyone from Titian in the Renaissance, Frans Snyders in the Baroque period, nineteenth-century emotive dog portraits from Rosa Bonheur and Maud Earl, and the great Lucien Freud and Andrew Wyeth in the 21st century. It is possible to see how major social and cultural concerns in Western culture were illustrated by these and other artists.
DDS: You are always experimenting and refining your work. What are you working on now?
JPS. Currently on my easel is a portrait of an elderly German Shepherd/Chow mix. It is the second painting I have done of this particular dog. The first one was done when the pet was a young pup of a year in age. The client had brought the dog over to my studio to be photographed.
My client left the studio to make some phone calls, and it was just me and the pooch. I thought the dog had a kind of wizened, far-reaching gaze, and, fooling around a bit, I waved one of my brushes around rhythmically in front of his eyes. As I murmured hypnotic phrases to him about getting tired and falling asleep, much to my surprise, his eyelids fluttered gracefully, he stretched out on the floor, and went to sleep.
I was touched by this large dogs’ gentle trust in me, and his willingness to let his guard down with someone he didn’t know too well.
You don’t have that experience with human subjects of portraiture! Now that I’ve been commissioned to paint this dog again at the age of thirteen, I am reflecting on this dog’s life, what kind of dog he has been, how well he was loved and loved in return. It’s in the way the eyes have become full of experience, and world-weariness, too.
DDS: You paint people, too.
JPS: I strive to capture the same emotions in the eyes of humans, too. I see the same expressions in all eyes of sentient creatures. I have painted shark ‘portraits’ too, and while they may be lacking in empathy, they make up for it in the kind of predatory glance that can only come from 100,000 years of evolutionary perfection of form. I strive to capture the gaze that emanates from the creature in its earthly form, and the experiences registered there.
DDS: You love painting dogs.
JPS: It is fascinating as a portrait painter to reflect on the experiential difference between painting human subjects and animals. While I still very much enjoy drawing people, particularly in charcoal, I have lost interest in taking commissions. As I set out to produce a portrait, I am never sure what the final expression of mood on the face of the sitter will be. I have found as a portrait painter that I function as a conduit. Once a painter becomes fluid with the tools of the métier, she can lose herself to the process of observing and recording. I have done representations of people that radiated sadness. For one commission, no matter what I tried, I could not eradicate the anger in the face. That client, who had been a sort of friend, did not return my calls after that. Good lesson. Animals do not even know they have ‘faces’, and that fact is a great comfort and relief, even an inspiration, to me. Imagine if we as humans were not so overly identified with our visages and how they appear to others. The world would be a vastly different place. A much more peaceful one, probably. After all, an aging face is not the source of such anxiety for an animal as it is for us. Human portraiture after all is a function of recording ego. Not so with animals.
DDS: You’ve been painting and thinking about portraiture for years.
JPS: I continue to be fascinated with portraiture as a record of sentience, in all its nonhuman forms, on planet earth. With animals, there is no barrier between what I see in the eyes and what I am being ‘allowed’ to see. No emotional/psychological fallout when the painting is done. Except for positive emotional reactions. This Christmas past, four of my clients gave their beloveds portraits of their dogs. I got three phone calls on Christmas Day telling me that their significant others had tears in their eyes when they saw their dogs likeness on canvas.)
DDS: You have a Buddhist way of looking at our ephemeral life.
JPS: What remains in a portrait is a bridge between the viewer and the recorded image of one of life’s fleeting lifeforms. Like a reading from the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Changes), these simple portraits are a slice through time revealing the shimmery, transient nature of all animate matter. Our companion animals are especially fleeting, having life-spans that are one-fifth of ours. This is what makes them especially poignant and compelling to me. They have such an impact on our psyches.
DDS: I so admire your awareness of the history of animal portraiture and its importance in each century.
JPS: The earliest recorded images from the hands of artists were created 30,000 years ago in the caves of Lascaux, in France. It is significant that these images were of animals; great noble creatures leaping and running across cave walls. In our modern culture, we are distracted, disconnected, with short attention spans. The rise in animal awareness comes as an antidote to these feelings. Animals are grounded, and offer us the opportunity to recognize what we are missing in our own modern psyches.
DDS: I hear you are painting a thoroughbred horse.
JPS: Also on another easel is a painting in progress of a gorgeous thoroughbred called Tucker. His owner, Ann Jamieson, who is a well-known horse trainer, judge and author of two volumes of stories about horses, contacted me at my studio at Branford Point, CT. This is a beautiful creature with a fine and mellow disposition. I have always drawn animals, having grown up with cats and dogs, but horses were my favorites to draw when I was very young.
I took riding lessons as a child, and drawings of horses were always a way to understand them better and to prolong the experience of having ridden them. As anyone who loves horses knows, their combination of massive strength and delicacy, the soft softness of their chins, and that deep and soulful gaze from their eyes makes them irresistible. The fact that they’ve not only put up with humans, but have helped us in building our civilizations, makes them supremely moral creatures from whom we could learn many a lesson. Certainly we owe them a debt of gratitude.
I adore the process of painting their sensuous forms, and looking into their eyes. It is so interesting to photograph them. One must be very respectful, never intimidating them by thrusting a camera into their faces. I love to just be around them first, drawing them and letting them get used to me.
DDS: What camera do you start with?
JPS: My old Canon FTb camera equipped with a 135 mm lens allows me to get a very close shot without being in the face of the animal. The photograph I take is of critical importance, because for me the painting must stand on its own outside the genre of ‘animal painting’. I look for strong contrast of light and dark (chiaroscuro), which exaggerates contrast between excitement/tranquility, form/emotional content, otherness/sameness.
DDS: How do you get started?
JPS: Meeting the animals is a big factor in getting to know their personalities. It is a joy to paint two or more animals together who share the same humans and households. One of the interesting side benefits from being in this line of work is meeting all the different types of dogs there are in this world. Considering that all the breeds evolved from the wolf in the last several centuries, and all the many mutts in their configurations, it is quite an ongoing study in biology.
DDS: Cats?
JPS: An ongoing project for me in a series of oil paintings of Siamese cats, my favorite cat breed. We had seal-point Siamese cats in succession while I was growing up (invariably named Sam), and until two years a go, I had a pair of sisters named Blanche and Baby Jane. They lived to be 16 years old, and died within 1 month of each other. I drew and painted them constantly.
DDS: Do you have favorites?
JPS: What I recall from the past 15 years of animal portraiture are all the different personalities, as different and distinct as humans. As I look through my portfolio of images, I get a distinct feeling for each of my ‘models’. The look of the wet feet and underside of ‘Bubba’, who is no longer with us. Bubba was just out of the house when I came to photograph him, and was very intent about doing the rounds scouting for that knows what in the wet undergrowth of the garden. He looked like something that had been following Mastodons for crumbs, back in prehistory.
I loved the wild look of the glamorously coiffed poodle Romeo, who also looked prehistoric, and yet contemporary.
On several occasions I’ve been told that dogs have barked at their own images in the paintings. I consider that the highest compliment!
There is the calm and dignified look on the French Bulldog, Fanny. By the 1900’s, this breed was a popular butchers and coachmen’s companion in Paris. Fortuna, the Scottish terrier, bears the reserved and slightly aloof quality of the excellent guardian. I also love the twin expressions on the double portrait of young and alert long-legged Beagle Hughey, juxtaposed with the more serious and contemplative expression on the elderly Labrador Parker.
DDS: You get caught up in the lives of your dogs.
JPS: There have been a few times when we didn’t get to finish the job due to the deaths of the subjects. The few spontaneous photos I did get of one subject bore unmistakable intimations of sadness and imminent departure. In fact, what has developed is a sort of sixth sense about animals regarding their longevity. I don’t mention this to their human companions, though.
DDS: Jackie, you have such a great perspective on your work.
JPS: What continues to make dogs enticing subject matter is their close proximity to us, and because of that unrivaled proximity they are uniquely suited to mirror our story of sentience in a body on a planet. Our two species, Homo Sapiens and Canis Familiaris, are deeply intertwined. The abiding mystery is that they offer unquestioned acceptance of their bond with us combined with their own possession of preternatural qualities that we could scarcely fathom, yet sense directly. It has been said, “Make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am”. That we should aspire to be as unconditionally accepting as dogs are, and as non-judgmental, are worthy goals indeed.
Commissions by appointment only: Fees from $1,500 for a black and white portrait. Where to find Jacqueline Probert paintings and stores that represent her work:
Gump’s in San Francisco: 135 Post Street, San Francisco, phone 415-982-1616, or 800-284-8677, www.gumps.com
Marcus Robbins and Wayne Armstrong are representing Jackie’s paintings at Pennyweight: 1337 Main Street, St. Helena, CA, and phone 707-963-3198.
Diane,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great painter she is? One day I really love to let paint our dog Ralph!
Maybe she knows our Belgian dog painter Thierry Poncelet?
Greet
These are wonderful! Thank you for the profile.
ReplyDeletesee I told you, this is the BEST yet.All that I love right here & you do this a lot! I agree about the artist's knowledge and study of animal portraiture- that history resonates in these portraits. None deserves it more than a beloved pet.DDS, do you have one? I bet cats. By the way,though I am more DOG than CAT I have both and I really love the Siamese portrait here- very Chinese zen.
ReplyDeletela
Amazing talent! That spaniel, so darling.
ReplyDeleteI just can't get over that portrait of Romeo. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning--Greet in Belgium and Patricia in Kansas City, and Little Augury on the East Coast, and Michael in New York, and Karena and Maryam...so far away (Morocco...for example)--
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU so much for your kind thoughts.
I love the paintings (so noble, so elegant) and then there are Jackie's thoughts on the animals: I hope everyone has the time to read through to the end of the text (I know...long)...Jackie said:
"Like a reading from the I Ching (the Chinese Book of Changes), these simple portraits are a slice through time revealing the shimmery, transient nature of all animate matter. Our companion animals are especially fleeting, having life-spans that are one-fifth of ours. This is what makes them especially poignant and compelling to me. They have such an impact on our psyches."
cheers and thank you--and HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.
I so enjoyed this interview and thank you for the introduction to this artist. Lovely, wise and oh, so gifted! Amazing portraits. She should meet Edward. I have a feeling they would get along famously.
ReplyDeleteDiane -Thanks for sharing the talents of Jacqueline Probert with us! She's brilliantly adept at capturing the deep character of these beautiful creatures. My favorite shown is Romeo -what an attitude!! I'd love to see what she could do with my darling little Louis!
ReplyDeleteJacqueline has a wonderful eye..it's artful and yet captures the personality of the animal. Well done..
ReplyDeleteI'm also moved by her description of horses, as I too work with these magnificent creatures and I agree...they could impart many lessons to those who are willing to listen.
Thank you for sharing your lovely work.
That was so enlighting to me. The paintings have so much soul in them. I think the Artist is absolutly brillant. If I had one wish it would be to paint like her. There is such love in her canvas.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.
Yvonne
kingsley melts me!
ReplyDeletexx
DEAR PAMELA (DEVOTED DOG LOVER), AND SCOTT, AND ELIZABETH, LA PETITE AND RENEE-
ReplyDeleteThank you for your enthusiasm, your appreciation of Jackie's fine work, and your love of dogs!
I am so happy everyone reacted with such fervor, emotion, and happiness to these wonderful portraits.
Every time I scroll down through the dog portraits, I fall for yet another portrait and another dog. They are all gazing at us as we gaze at them.
I know the owners of most of these dogs--and I can tell you the dogs are adored, pampered and treated like the kings and queens and playful pups and devoted companions in life that they are.
Cheers to everyone--and Happy Thanksgiving, where-ever you may be.
DIANE
These are magnificent works of art and reside at a whole new level of animal portraiture. Now I'm inspired to paint my little orange and white cat, but the end result will fall far short of Jackie's paintings!
ReplyDeleteDear Diane,
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely introduction to this Artist, many thanks. When trying to find the correct words to say I see you said it so well already in your comments, ”noble & elegant”.
I too read the I Ching, and can appreciate the “slice through time” observation you made. In Jackie's hands the fleeting animated moment is transformed into something monumental. Our pet’s lives are so short. I remember a book title from a few summers ago “the Three Dog Marriage” this title is a poignant reminder of the passage of comparative life spans, and the preciousness of all life.
I, too, love the contrast of Hughy and Parker. The difference in their ages and demeanor. I was touched that she sees the shadow of death in some of the dogs she paints. The eyes of these animals are soul-rich. Just, as I might add, are the eyes of this gifted artist.
ReplyDeleteWow. She is an amazing painter. It's hard to believe that some of these paintings aren't actually photographs.
ReplyDeleteLovely interview.
lovely stuff- she is very talented. the poodle and yorkie are beyond great. i can't let mona & richard see though, or they'll be wanting portraits commissioned!
ReplyDeleteI returned for another read and to catch up on more comments- I love what Jacqueline has done with these portraits- Only wish she had captured my one and only Moses-a noble spirit indeed. xx,la
ReplyDeleteLooking into the eyes of these beautiful animals is heart-melting. Jacqueline captures the essence of their individual personalities just perfectly. Just enchanting, & so is your stunning blog Diane! Thank you for your kind message over @ The Hedge & it's a pleasure to welcome you as a Hedgie. If you can enjoy a bit of a laugh (mainly provided unintentionally by the Man-of-the-House)during our crazy renovations, then I'll be delighted!
ReplyDeleteMillie ^_^
DEAR FRIENDS FROM FAR (VERY) AND NEAR-
ReplyDeleteSo happy you all love Jackie's paintings--and especially her vivid and insightful comments and musings on the animal world.
She and several of you spoke movingly of the brief lives of most dogs (though my friend Suzanna's Papillion "Butterfly'is 20...)...and their short but intense time in our lives. It's such a poignant thought.
I love to hear from you all...do stay in touch.
Happy days, DIANE
I discovered the beauty of having a 4 legs companion only a few years ago and I regret having missed so many years of joy. Geronimo (shorthaired pointer and gun shy...)also closes his eyes when I start whispering to him "Nanna, fai la nanna" (go to sleep). Seeing all these beautiful expressions rendered in Jacqueline's portraits and reading her answers to your well posed questions really made my day. Grazie!
ReplyDeleteHer work is really quite incredible. Not only recreating them with such precision, but their personalities as well. What is amazing is her ability to know their souls -- seeing in their eyes and having a hunch about their fate. Sort of spooky. We become so close to our animals hoping they will be around forever, that -- maybe -- we just can't see. Or maybe Jackie has a second gift.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Doodie and Dear Brillante, my first Canadian reader!
ReplyDeleteLoved hearing your comments.
I'm so pleased you read Jackie's comments.
They rather give me chills...so beautifully expressed.
Geronimo sounds like a divine dog, and I'm sure he makes you very content (and you...him).
Soodie--yes, you are right...Jackie is kind of a 'dog whisperer' in a spiritual way and she does have a deep understanding of animals.
you can see it in the portraits.
Love your comments, thank you.
cheers to all, and happy days, DIANE
Diane,
ReplyDeleteAnother Post with perfection and elegance....magnificent...
Hounds and horses - Poetry in Motion...
I also want to thank you so much for your kind comments.
All the best......
thank you for posting this insightful and beautiful interview! jackie is a dear friend and colleague, and a wonderful painter, and i'm so excited to see her work posted here. go kitty!
ReplyDeleteI was transfixed by this interview, as both you and the artist captured so many of the things I sense about paintings, but never really put into words. The part that really spoke to me was this: "What remains in a portrait is a bridge between the viewer and the recorded image of one of life’s fleeting lifeforms".
ReplyDeleteI sense this so clearly every time I visit the National Portrait Gallery in London. All of these portraits of people, some well known, some not, yet living on through art. I sometimes will gaze at a portrait that is particularly well captured, and wonder what the subject's life was like, and how different it was from mine.
I also liked reading about the artist's feel about dogs. Sometimes I look at my own dog, Ben, and marvel at the total trust in his eyes. He is a golden retriever, and always seems to be smiling.
Thank you for helping me out with my 'favor'. I am going to send this blog post to my daughter; as a confirmed dog lover, she will love the subject matter!
Late to the party here, Diane, but wanted to thank you for such a wonderful profile of clearly very thoughtful and sensitve Artist. Perhaps a book on Jacqueline Probert is in the works? Please say yes! I long to curl up with a book on her painting. Edie at Swedish Interiors
ReplyDeleteHello, Dear Friends--
ReplyDeleteTavarua, Lynne, Hollie, Edie and Rhonda--and all friends near and far:
Thank you so much for your vivid and lovely comments about Jackie's artistry.
I had a book-signing at Myra Hoefer's carriage house in Healdsburg today--and Jackie Probert, so glamorous arrived all the way from San Francisco, to thank me for this feature on her.
She is so excited and overwhelmved to read all the comments (can you imagine!), and thrilled to read comments from Marrakesh and Antwerp and Paris, Houston, Atlanta, and Adelaide and ...all over the world. She is so grateful for your thoughtful responses.
Thank you all. This has been one of my most popular blog features--and I could not be more delighted. Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving, where-ever you may be. It is always good to be thankful.
cheers and happy days DIANE
Diane I am indeed uplifted. What a truly amazing artist, champion for animals with her volunteer work, and woman. Her portraits reminding me of those you'd see hanging at the Louvre. I adore how she captures the look of her subjects whether a human, or horse, through the eyes. I couldn't agree more that the eyes are the windows into the soul despite the fact you are a dog, or cat. Coco, Dusty & Blue are my favorites. How stately is Blue? It's as if Jackie has captured their aura & mixed it in the paint. I enjoyed this post immensely. Diane thank you and happy Thanksgiving to you as well. It IS always good to be thankful ~ Deborah
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Deborah-
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your beautiful commentary on Jackie's art.
I've forwarded it to her--along with all the other divine comments that have come from everywhere in the world, great great friends.
Interesting: everyone has a favorite dog. I know some of the owners and they would be thrilled to hear these lovely words. They are indeed divine dogs, all of them (and one horse!).
Happy days.I am heading to India tomorrow to work on THE PENCIL PROJECT...will tell more about it soon.
fondest to you all, DIANE
I knew she was special when I had a crush on her in 7th grade.
ReplyDeleteBig crush SHS 1971(You never knew).I had noooo doubts this smart,cute ,funny.loveable girl was going to get it done.Love ya Jackie!!!Teresa & I love your art.We have a beautiful Shar-Pei(Thai).Would love to see what magic you could do with him?Facebook(Jimmy Amiot)
ReplyDelete