BACON, G.W. - (Design for Hark ! Hark ! The dogs do bark.)

This pen and ink drawing could be the original design for the lithography "Design for Hark ! Hark ! The dogs do bark" designed by Johnson, Riddle & Company Ltd. This printing company worked with a team of lithographic artists. They played an important role in the production of posters. The drawing is slightly smaller in size than the lithography (See item in this auction). When comparing we think we recognize the hand of the lithographer in this drawing.

This very rare political caricature map of Europe depicts the continent at the outbreak of World War I, or as it was called at the time the Great War. The principal countries in the conflict are depicted as the Dogs of War. Germany is identified as an aggressive Dachshund attached to its Austrian ally shown as a yapping mongrel.
Opposing them is the dandified French Poodle and the British Bulldog who has chomped onto the Dachshund's nose. Russia is depicted both as a traditional bear and as a massive steamroller driven into the heart of Europe by a determined-looking Tsar.
A giant British sailor is puppeteer for a huge naval fleet, while a Turk with his pet Dachshund controls a small German fleet in the Black Sea. The other countries are also boldly caricatured with humorous illustrations - a Spanish bullfighter; a knife-wielding Greek; an Italian carabinieri; a Swiss mountaineer; and a Serbian mosquito.
It would take a good deal of study to understand the totality of this map's political and satirical nuances.