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Painted portrait of a blue Great Dane wearing a black tricorn hat with gold trim and a navy coat with a red embroidered sash. 19 / 24

Steady at the Helm and Solemn as Sea Fog, the Great Dane Captain Has Arrived

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Steady at the helm and solemn as a sea fog, the captain has arrived. A blue Great Dane with mottled slate-gray fur, droopy jowls, and serious amber eyes wears a black tricorn hat edged in gold braid and finished with a golden rosette. His navy blue coat is covered in gold embroidery and buttons, with braided shoulder boards, and a crimson sash embroidered with golden roses crosses his broad chest. Behind him, a red wall hanging glows with gold roses, oak leaves, and looping Celtic-style knots.

Despite the name, the Great Dane is generally considered a German breed, descended from powerful hunting dogs used to chase wild boar. In Germany it is known as the Deutsche Dogge, or German mastiff, and the reason it came to be called a Dane in English is not entirely clear. Today's Danes are known far more for their gentle, affectionate nature than their hunting past. As for the hat, the three-cornered tricorn became fashionable well after the Tudors, in the late 1600s and 1700s, when it was famously worn by naval officers and, in popular imagination, pirates.

History aside, this towering captain wears his tricorn with complete authority. With his calm, dignified gaze and his impressive size, it is easy to imagine every sailor aboard snapping to attention the moment he strides onto the deck.

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