Ulmer Dogge

The Jagdschloss Grunewald is a relatively modest hunting lodge in Berlin begun by the Kurfurst Joachim II of Brandenburg in the early sixteenth century. It is located in the woods, close to the city’s suburbs. Many Dutch, Flemish, and German painting - mostly dating between the sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries - decorates the building. One of these paintings is Merck’s life-size image of Frederick I’s favourite hunting dog, the Ulmer Dogge. The dog bears his master’s monogram miniature, attached to its collar. This image is central to the sport of the chase, one so fervently pursued in the lodge’s surrounding woods.

Johann Christof Merck was a German painter specialized in animal paintings and hunting scenes.