Decorating a country house with hunting dog paintings, room by room
8 min read · by Walensky
BRITTANY SPANIEL PAINTING
There is that late-afternoon light slipping through the shutters of a country house and splashing across the living room wall. And then there is that wall, which has stayed empty for three years because nobody ever knew what to hang on it. A well-chosen, well-placed hunting dog painting answers that question better than any generic decorating advice.
The direct answerTo decorate a country house with hunting dog paintings, think room by room: a strong portrait in the entrance to set the tone, a group of several canvases in the living room around the sofa or fireplace, more intimate formats in the study, and vertical arrangements along the hallways and staircases. The Brittany Spaniel, with its red and white coat and golden gaze, embodies this refined hunting style perfectly without tipping into folklore.- A different painting for each room, but a shared colour palette (russet, gold, earth tones) to create a common thread.
- The entrance welcomes a bold format hung at eye level, while the living room features a small gallery of 3 to 4 works.
- The Brittany Spaniel, a hunting dog with a gentle temperament, lends itself to every style: realistic, watercolour or contemporary.
The country house, a playground for refined hunting style
Refined hunting style is the art of marrying rustic authenticity with an almost city-level exactness in finishes. No stacked trophies or pastiche English décor: rather, noble materials, russet and golden tones, and animal subjects treated with care rather than stuffed in any figurative sense.
Most guides on the subject stay general: which painting to choose, which frame style. Here, the angle is different: we go room by room, because an entrance has different needs than a study, and a staircase is decorated very differently from a living room. If you first want the criteria for choosing a hunting dog painting for an elegant country home, our article on choosing a hunting dog painting for an elegant country interior lays the groundwork.
The entrance: setting the tone from the threshold
The entrance is the first image the house gives of its occupants: a hunting dog portrait hung directly opposite the door sets the tone in three seconds. It is the place to allow a bold, almost theatrical subject.
A golden gaze that holds the visitor's attention, like that of the Red Dog with Golden Eyes Watching Birds, works particularly well here: it captures attention without needing to linger in front of it.
Formats and hanging heights suited to an entrance
In a narrow entrance, an L format (120x70 cm) remains more than sufficient to mark the space without overwhelming it. If the wall is more generous, the XL (140x80 cm) gives greater presence without needing a second work alongside it.
Avoid hanging directly behind a door that opens inward: the painting always ends up in the blind spot of the gaze. Prefer the wall you see when entering, not the one you turn your back on while passing.
Favorite
Red and White Brittany Spaniel Painting in Country Landscape - Rustic Portrait - Brittany Spaniel Edition
From €273.90
Discover this paintingThe living room: composing a gallery around the sofa or fireplace
The living room is where you can finally display several paintings together, because it is where you sit, look and take your time. Around the sofa or above the fireplace, a composition of 3 to 4 hunting dog portraits creates a gallery effect without ever overloading the space, provided a common colour thread is kept.
A successful wall gallery does not tell four different stories: it tells a single one, with four gazes.
Mixing portraits and hunting scenes for more depth
Alternating a very close-up portrait, like the Tricolour Dog with Golden Eyes on Abstract Blue Background, with a more rural scene such as the Red and White Brittany Spaniel in Country Landscape, gives the ensemble rhythm. This avoids the "series of passport photos" effect that threatens any gallery of overly similar portraits.
- Keep a regular spacing of 5 to 10 cm between each work.
- Align the centres of the paintings on a single horizontal line, not necessarily their top edges.
- A work or group should occupy 60 to 75% of the width of the sofa or fireplace for the composition to hold visually.
For a more subdued décor, also consider a single central piece above the fireplace. The Portrait with Gaze Raised to the Sky in Brittany Spaniel Edition, with its almost contemplative expression, works very well alone above a stone mantelpiece.
If your living room already leans toward other dog breeds, the dog painting collection lets you broaden the search without leaving the hunting-countryside theme.
— Our selection
The study or library: an intimate and refined atmosphere
A country house study calls for smaller formats and darker, almost muted tones, in the manner of a small English reading room. Here one is not looking for an entrance effect, but a discreet presence that accompanies work or reading.
The Watercolour Portrait of the red and white dog with golden eyes brings exactly this softer, almost literary touch, which contrasts with the more pronounced realism of living room portraits.
In a study often lit by a side window, prefer the matte Alu Dibond finish, which is free of glare: it avoids disturbing reflections on the screen or in the field of view while reading.
— Also to discover
Hallways and staircases: playing with vertical staging
A corridor you always walk through without looking at can become, with a run of paintings, the most photographed passage in the house. This is precisely where the verticality of a staircase takes on its full meaning: the works unfold step by step, following the slope of the gaze.
The trick is to follow the line of the staircase rather than the classic horizontal: each painting rises slightly relative to the previous one, at the same distance from the corresponding step.
For interiors that already play the animal card in a broader sense, the Deerhound dog painting collection and the Landseer dog painting selection offer complementary silhouettes to vary the breeds without breaking the mood.
In the same spirit
Brittany Spaniel Painting with Hanging Tongue Watercolour - Canine Joy - Brittany Spaniel Edition
From €228.90
Discover this painting →Adapting the atmosphere to the season
A country house does not live the same way in January as in July, and paintings can follow this rhythm without changing the whole wall. Winter calls for warm tones, russet and gold, almost cocooning; summer lets light backgrounds and more frank contrasts breathe.
- In winter, favour works with russet and golden tones, which respond well to the light of a fireplace or a subdued lighting.
- In summer, abstract yellow or blue backgrounds, like those of the tricolour portraits, catch natural light better through open windows.
Nothing prevents you from rotating two or three paintings according to the season, especially in a second home where you arrive with fresh eyes on each stay.
Frequently asked questions
How do you hang several dog paintings together without overloading a room?
Limit yourself to 3 or 4 works per wall, keep a regular spacing and a shared colour palette. The more the subjects resemble each other in tone, the less the composition looks cluttered, even with several portraits.
What is the ideal height for hanging a painting in a country house entrance?
The center of the artwork should sit about 1.50 m from the floor, roughly the eye level of a standing adult. This rule applies to the entrance as well as to most living spaces.
Which frame style to choose for a hunting dog painting in a rustic interior?
Paintings in the shop are delivered without a frame, ready to hang straight away thanks to the included fixings. To achieve a look faithful to the country style, choose the finish according to the room's light: matte Dibond aluminium facing a window, acrylic glass in a more subdued corner.
Can several hunting dog breeds be mixed in the same room?
Yes, provided there is consistency in colours or artistic treatment. A red Brittany Spaniel and another dog with more tricolour tones can easily coexist if the background or portrait style creates a visual link between the two.
Each room of the country house has its own rhythm: the entrance welcomes, the living room gathers, the study soothes, the staircase tells a story as you climb it. Hunting dog paintings, and the Brittany Spaniel in particular, have that subtle talent for weaving a thread of russet and gold from one room to the next, without ever repeating themselves. All that remains is to compose your own journey, wall after wall, through the collection of hunting dog paintings.
Explore our collections
