Pappillons, Lap-dogs, and Squirrel Spaniels
When I posted about Newfs, Diane asked about Pappillons. From what I can tell, there were certainly tiny toy spaniels around the courts of Europe that could have been the ancestors of today’s Pappillons. You see plenty of them in art 
dating back to at least Titian in the 15th century (detail of his Venus of Urbino to the right). The upstanding “butterfly” ears of the modern dog however are Victorian, and I don’t see the name used until the early 20th century (OED: 1907 R. LEIGHTON New Bk. Dog XVII. lxi. 536/1 A very engaging little dog is the Papillon, or Squirrel Spaniel). Before the late 1800s, all the spaniels have floppy ears (what are now called Phalene [moth]). Both Phalene and Pappillons are still born in the same litters, so it would seem the Paps area are a Victorian sport that caught on.
From Wikipedia: "The history of the papillon is traced through works of art. The earliest toy spaniels resembling the papillon are found in Italy. Tiziano Vicelli painted these small dogs in many famous paintings beginning around 1500[3] including the Venus of Urbino (1542). Other well known artists who included them in paintings are Watteau,[4] Gonzalez Coques, Fragonard, Paolo Veronese,[3] and Mignard.[3] In a painting after Largillierre in the Wallace Collection in London, a papillon is clearly shown in a family portrait of Louis XIV. "
We know that Madame de Pompadour had small spaniels (there's one on the bench below her right hand in the painting on the left), as did Marie Antoinette. Buffon, in his 1766 series of
engravings, shows a toy spaniel of the type we're talking about (bottom right image, L'Epagneul). Dr. Caius’s Synopsis of British Dogs (1816) has a “type” that would contain these toy spaniels: “The spaniel gentle or comforter . . . the modern lap-dog.” Lap-dog is also a good catchall, dating to the 1640s.
I think this is going to be one of those areas where you’re either going to have to fudge the history and use the modern name (though that could be misleading, as the modern version of the dog didn’t exist), or you’re going to have to settle for a more period, and more general, description, such as lap spaniel (which I do find in use by the 18th century per Goggle Books).
dating back to at least Titian in the 15th century (detail of his Venus of Urbino to the right). The upstanding “butterfly” ears of the modern dog however are Victorian, and I don’t see the name used until the early 20th century (OED: 1907 R. LEIGHTON New Bk. Dog XVII. lxi. 536/1 A very engaging little dog is the Papillon, or Squirrel Spaniel). Before the late 1800s, all the spaniels have floppy ears (what are now called Phalene [moth]). Both Phalene and Pappillons are still born in the same litters, so it would seem the Paps area are a Victorian sport that caught on.From Wikipedia: "The history of the papillon is traced through works of art. The earliest toy spaniels resembling the papillon are found in Italy. Tiziano Vicelli painted these small dogs in many famous paintings beginning around 1500[3] including the Venus of Urbino (1542). Other well known artists who included them in paintings are Watteau,[4] Gonzalez Coques, Fragonard, Paolo Veronese,[3] and Mignard.[3] In a painting after Largillierre in the Wallace Collection in London, a papillon is clearly shown in a family portrait of Louis XIV. " We know that Madame de Pompadour had small spaniels (there's one on the bench below her right hand in the painting on the left), as did Marie Antoinette. Buffon, in his 1766 series of
engravings, shows a toy spaniel of the type we're talking about (bottom right image, L'Epagneul). Dr. Caius’s Synopsis of British Dogs (1816) has a “type” that would contain these toy spaniels: “The spaniel gentle or comforter . . . the modern lap-dog.” Lap-dog is also a good catchall, dating to the 1640s.I think this is going to be one of those areas where you’re either going to have to fudge the history and use the modern name (though that could be misleading, as the modern version of the dog didn’t exist), or you’re going to have to settle for a more period, and more general, description, such as lap spaniel (which I do find in use by the 18th century per Goggle Books).
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