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May 19, 2020 · Little known today, and often dismissed as a “crazy cat artist”, Wain was one of Britain’s most popular artists in the early 20th century. He was an eccentric who adored cats, delighting the Edwardian public with charming, often witty illustrations of anthropomorphised feline friends playing golf, drinking tea, wearing suits and going to the opera.
Riggers and technicians deinstalling a section of the Book of the Dead of the Priest of Horus, Imhotep in June 2015. Photo by the author «In preparation for the renovation of the Ptolemaic galleries of Egyptian art, riggers and technicians deinstalled one of the most-viewed objects at The Met, the Book of the Dead of the Priest of Horus, Imhotep, and its companion, Papyrus inscribed with six ...
- Ancient Times to The Medieval Period
- Renaissance Period
- 18th Century
- 19th Century
- 20th Century
- Conclusion
1. Tomb of Nebamun
The ancient Egyptians didn’t have a canvas to paint their pictures. Instead, they painted on walls of tombs and palaces, and slabs of stone. Many cat paintings are dispersed throughout ancient Egypt since cats were worshiped as gods. One painting, in particular, is the hunting scene in the Tomb of Nebamun. This scene shows Nebamun hunting in the Nile marsh with a cat next to him, catching birds. The cat’s eye gives historians the idea that the cat had a deep religious meaning. The cat may rep...
2. Grinning Cat
The Grinning Cat in Conrad of Megenberg’s book, Buch der Natur (Book of Nature), is a portrait that people can’t look away from. The cat’s face is a grotesque human face with a disturbing smile instead of the regal cat face we all love. Conrad of Megenberg did this for a reason. In fact, many artists in this time portrayed cats this way. Cats symbolized pagan and Jewish traditions, which were represented in Catholic European paintings as demonic. If you look at other cat paintings of this tim...
3. A Barber’s Shop with Monkeys and Cats
A Barber’sShop with Monkeys and Cats, created by Flemish painter Abraham Teniers, realistically depicts monkeys serving cats at a barbershop. Teniers used oil on copper, a popular medium between the 16th and 17th centuries. The anthropomorphic painting looks almost modern and shows that not all paintings were serious. Usually, we would see humans in place of the animals, but its whimsical display of monkeys running a barbershop is proof that, even then, cats knew their place as masters.
4. The Black Cat
The Black Catis not dated, so it’s hard to say when this beautiful piece was created. Chinese artist Min Zhen was a seal carver who lived most of his life in Hubei. Most of his work included human figures. Min Zhen was associated with the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, a group of painters known for rejecting the typical rules of painting and opting for individual expression. Most famous paintings used oil on canvas, but this piece used ink on paper. It features a chubby cat smiling at you—very...
5. The Cat’s Lunch
Marguerite Gerard was one of the leading female artists of her time. Gerard liked to illustrate motherhood and female companionship in her paintings and included a pet dog or cat in many of them. Her brother-in-law, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, was also a painter and had cats in his portraits. He probably influenced her to involve cats in her paintings. The Cat’s Lunchfeatures a young woman holding out a plate of food and the cat clearly enjoying it while the dog eagerly waits for his bite.
6. Curiosity
Couldery was an English cabinet maker before abandoning the trade to focus on art. He’s well known as an artist who mainly focused on animals, specifically cats. He created portraits that captured realistic expressions of animals in mischievous situations. Admirers of his work are in awe at his ability to paint fur that looks so real you could touch it. Curiosityis one painting in a series that features cats in various scenarios, overpowered by their usual investigative behavior. This paintin...
7. Gabrielle Arnault as a Child
French painter Louis Leopold Boilly rose to fame during the turn of the 19th century for his ability to produce fantastic portraits. At first glance, this painting doesn’t seem like much. It’s a young child holding a cat, and the colors are plain, but the innocence of the kitten and the child is almost tangible. Even the young girl’s eyes seem to draw you in. Ultimately, this painting is about youth. Of course, as cat lovers, we notice the cat. It’s almost cruel that the cat isn’t looking at...
16. Sara Holding A Cat
Sara HoldingA Catis an impressionist painting by Mary Cassatt, a famous female American artist. Cassatt often featured women and children in her paintings, showing life’s more gentle, nurturing side using thick, blunt brush strokes. In this portrait, we see a young child named Sara holding her precious kitty. Unfortunately, this was one of Cassatt’s last pieces of work. She went completely blind by 1914 and had to give up painting entirely. Thankfully, she gave us cat lovers this artwork that...
17. The White Cat
The White Cat is a famous painting by German artist Franz Marc, also known as Tom Cat on a Yellow Pillow. In this painting, we see a sleepy white cat cozied up on a pillow, enjoying an afternoon nap. Franz Marc is well known for using mysticism to portray animals. Marc applied expressionism, using bold colors to set a mood for innocence, feminine joy, and life. At this time, artists used powerful colors and bold outlines, both of which are represented in this piece and many of his other paint...
18. The Bridge
Many of the paintings we’ve listed are oil on canvas. However, The Bridgeby Swedish painter Carl Olof Larsson is a watercolor painting featuring a young female painter observing a man on a bridge. Her cat sits next to her, equally intrigued. This is one of Larsson’s later works. Larsson often used muted palettes in his paintings and showcased his family life in his work. He’s best known as a watercolor painter, and his work took him far when reproduction printing used his watercolor paintings...
The great thing about this list? There are so many more cat paintings out there! It’s one more reason why cats believe they are superior to humans. We can’t stop uplifting them in our art, but that’s okay. Cats have a special place in this world, in our hearts, and on the canvas. See also: 1. 11 Most Famous Dog Paintings (with Pictures) 2. How To P...
- Cassidy Sutton
Oct 6, 2021 · Sophisticated Cats Ruled the Mid-century. blog | October 6, 2021. The appeal of the cat form to artists from the mid-20th century and to modern revivalists, like the artist Shag, whose work is pictured above, has to do with both the animals' shape -- and personality. Courtesy of Josh Agle. Every era, it seems, adopts the mascot that best fits ...
Mar 4, 2021 · A facsimile of a painting from the Tomb of Sennedjem, in Deir el-Medina. The painting depicts a cat killing a serpent and is associated with a sequence in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The original painting was made c. 1295-1213 BCE. The facsimile pictured was painted by Charles K. Wilkinson c. 1920-1921. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Jan 24, 2020 · Metropolitan Cats. , 1983—A History of Cats at The Met. From ancient Chinese sculpture to the modern Broadway stage, cats have long been a source of inspiration for artists. As part of The Met’s 150th anniversary in 2020, the Museum began releasing films from the Museum’s extensive moving-image archive, which comprises over 1,500 films ...
People also ask
Who painted the cat at play?
Did ancient Egypt have a canvas to paint?
Why did ancient Egypt paint cats?
Who painted cat catching a bird?
What is the most popular cat painting in 'curiosity'?
How did Renoir paint a cat?
Winter: Cat on a Cushion, 1909. Théophile-Alexandre Pierre Steinlen. The Fall of Man with Scenes of the Creation, 1544. Augustus Cordus. Cat Coffin, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period (664–32 BCE) Ancient Egyptian. Amulet of Sekhmet, Third Intermediate Period (about 1069–664 BCE) Ancient Egyptian. Summer: Cat on a Balustrade, 1909.
