GUINEA PIG ART

We may trace the guinea pig’s global career via representations of the animal in art. Jan Brueghel’s The Feast of Bacchus (c.1640) represents two guinea pigs nibbling on a pea pod. Teodor Lubieniecki’s Still Life with Guinea Pigs (late 17th century) depicts two of the animals peering at a basket of fruit, while Albert Eckhout’s portrait of a Brazilian mameluca (1641) has a pair of guinea pigs emerging from the undergrowth. Other notable guinea pig artworks include a miniature by Flemish artist David de Coninck, which features two plump cuyes sniffing a bunch of grapes; Felice Boselli’s Still Life with a Pigeon and Guinea Pig (c.1690) and Jakab Bogdány’s Capuchin Squirrel Monkey, Two Guinea Pigs, a Blue Tit and an Amazon St Vincent Parrot with Peaches, Figs and Pears in a Landscape (1710–20), in which two inquisitive guinea pigs inspect a pear. One portrait of three children by an unknown artist depicts a seven-year-old girl cradling a podgy cuy in her arms, while a boy next to her clutches a bird. Dated around 1580, this is believed to be the oldest English representation of a guinea pig and suggests the early adoption of the animal among elites as a pet. It is notable that in many of these paintings, guinea pigs are portrayed in the act of eating.