Merry Christmas from Field Grey (and Queenie)
We at Field Grey love the myth of the St Bernard’s Brandy Barrel so much that we based this year’s Christmas cards on it – specially designing them so that your dog can try them out. The St. Bernard’s brandy barrel is the second item in a Field Grey series of found objects inspired by the subject of uniforms.
The Story
In 1831 the legend of the St Bernard’s brandy barrel was born. English artist Sir Edwin Lanseer painted the popular ‘Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller’; a dramatic wintery scene depicting two gallant St Bernard dogs rescuing a snow-covered traveller. One dog barks for help while the second attempts to revive the man with a lick. This dog carries a wooden barrel of brandy round its neck – an entirely fictional addition that Lanseer included ‘for interest’.
Medically speaking brandy wouldn’t do you an awful lot of good in a blizzard but the legend of the St Bernard’s Brandy Barrel has endured nonetheless and is now a popular image associated with both St Bernards and the Swiss Alps. Although it started life as an object of mythology, the brandy barrel has become something of a traditional uniform for St Bernard dogs, branded with the Swiss flag and featuring in postcards, cartoons and images of the Alps.
So the truth of the matter is, St Bernards have never, ever carried brandy barrels to mountain rescues – they only pose for photographs in them.
