The group sculpture of the dogs at plaza Santa Ana

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 1895

In the 1980s, the Main Square in the city was subject to a refurbishment programme that changed its appearance considerably. One of these was the installation of a set of 8 dog sculptures in 1895, which contributed to this change. Over time, these figures have become extremely popular, to the point that they are now considered one of the symbols of the city for our people, despite there being much confusion to their arrival in the city in the first place.

[...] it has been affirmed that the dogs, which came in from Belgium, were meant to go somewhere completely different, in that they had been ordered for an African city but never actually got them, given that the boat that transported them broke down near to our coastline. The crew were helped out during their lengthly stay in the city, waiting for the repair to the vessel. The captain was grateful for all the favours, but unable to pay for them, decided to donate the statues. We are not sure of how true these comments were, which were almost mythical in content, although we can be sure it would be wrong to say they were from Belgium. The case for this is the inscription which is repeated on four of the pedestals: "Vald'Osne", the name of a workshop in France, which supplied sculptures to a wide range of European cities. 

Another two initials, A. J., which are also located on some of the bases, would make the name Alfred Jacquemart spring to mind as the maker of these pieces, since that very workshop was where much of his works were produced, including works similar to these ones. We also suppose that this workshop was the one that supplied identical dog sculptures that sit outside Saint George's Church in London. 

The pieces before us here were made out of cast iron, and the fact they have a layer of green paint on them make some people think they are bronze. At the foot of some of them lie some dead birds, as a reference to those animals prepared for hunting. They are set out in two different postures, half of them sitting and the other half lying down. 

These dogs have had deep rooted sentiment in the local population, and have been the inspiration behind literary recreations, including the work by Víctor Doreste, entitled Faycán (memories of a stray dog), an emotional narration through which, with prose full of lyricism, he relates through the dog world the daily vicissitudes of the city around the square and the ravine of Guiniguada.

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