The Pooing Dog 🫣

 

“Cane che lascia” (or popularly known as “Il cane che caca” - The Pooing Dog), created around 1880 by the Italian artist Adriano Cecioni (1836–1886), a painter and sculptor associated with the Macchiaioli movement. 

Created in terracotta and later cast in bronze, it represents the most mature and provocative expression of Cecioni's anti-academic realism, focusing on anecdotal and natural scenes devoid of idealization. It is part of a series of studies and sculptures dedicated to hunting dogs, a beloved theme of the artist. Sargi wrote: "...it nevertheless displays a surprising elegance in the way in which, by arching its back, it transfers its weight from the front legs to the hind legs, which are held wider and slightly raised, allowing, under the tense rib cage, the contraction of the muscles involved in the expulsion of feces, while the tail, straight back, admirably balances the energy of a movement that, starting at the height of the neck, then flows downwards, sinuously crossing the entire body of the animal."