My fascination with portraiture is pushed to the limits now that Xavier Bray of the Wallace Collection has just produced a book on dog portraits in art. Surely cats must follow, I thought, but alas that’s already been done.

Makes sense really, I suppose, given our love of our faithful friends over the centuries. Needless to say it’s a broad spectrum including Stubbs, Gainsborough, Freud and Hockney. With examples from the likes of the Royal Collection and Tate Britain it’s possibly an amusing stocking filler for that art aficionado who is difficult to buy for at Christmas! ‘Faithful & Fearless: Portraits of Dogs’ is out now.