Dog Ticket, Miss?
This is arguably one of the most beautiful paintings of Victorian England - the enigma never fails to excite interest. Why is the girl gazing so stubbornly ahead? Why is the poor dog so concerned? What does he know/fear that she refuses to see. Is this class war - a belligerent ticket collector taking it out on a well-dressed middle-class girl who happens to own a handsome pet. Or does he know something that we don't? Does she even own the dog? Did she steal him at Charing Cross Station on her way home to Greenwich? Is she used to getting her own way and fancies walking this Jack Russell in Greenwich Park so that the official request for a dog ticket thwarts her selfish desire. The dog is happy to be adopted as her pet but knows she has been rumbled - hence his natural concern. If he is thrown off the train, what will become of him.... He knows too much about the lives of Victorian stray dogs. The questions posed here are endless and the picture, that appears rather sentimental, if not a trifle kitch, on first sight, actually touches on some profound social issues. To us though the main question is: what happens when the girl alights at Greenwich station?
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