Portrait of a Dog

My group and I focused on Eric Fischl painting, " Portrait of a Dog". The painting was made in 1987, it was made of four panels that were combined together to create one portrait. The painting was 9' 5 x 14' 2 3/4 (287 x 433.7 cm) made up of oil on a canvas. Although, the painting was made up of four panels the artists expect the person viewing the portrait to focus the dog. As my group and I did research we saw the same dog in another painting, we realized it has some significance to Eric Fischl. Being that Mr. Fischl is portrayed as "Naturalistic Stylist" he may feel a dog symbolize nature in some way.