Cats in visual art through the ages
Art
Cats - those fluffy minuscule creatures which eat our plants and scratch our furniture. Yet, we still love them to death. Sometimes we may question, were they always this beloved? In this article we will go through the ages and look at how cats have been portrayed. What better way to see how people thought of cats than seeing them through their eyes - by viewing pieces of art.
Artists have been portraying cats since many years before the Common Era. Let’s take a deep dive. In ancient Egipt major adoration of cats comes through excessive homage, to the point that cats were not seen as just animals. They were admired like gods. If somebody killed a cat, even unintentionally, they were immediately sentenced to death. Devotion to cats shines through in a plethora of masterpieces. We can spot a cat with ease while looking at hieroglyphs. Here are some examples.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
As we can see cats were portrayed more often than not in a particular pose - sitting straight, eyes fixed right in front of them. This position conveys their magnificence. Numerous cats’ effigies were dug out, from which we have figured out how much homage was paid to these creatures. Let’s take a bronze statue dated 664−332 BC for instance. It illustrated an older cat with a tiny kitten, probably a mother and child. A massive number of ancient pieces of art portraying felines is understandable considering their god-like reputation. However, their role did not end up only as objects of worship. Cats were also widely used to catch variety of rodents like mice and rats.
A bronze statue of a cat
Cats’ sublimity was not appreciated in ancient Greece though. They were hardly ever even mentioned in Greek mythology, which shows that cats were not extremely vital in that culture. Due to this fact, we cannot see many cat depictions from this time. Nevertheless, Greeks kept cats as domestic animals with a view to reducing rodent population.
In ancient Rome however cats were seen as holy animals, as they were in Egipt. They also played a crucial role in catching rodents there. Therefore art from ancient Rome chiefly shows cats hunting. The astonishing range of existing mosaics is spellbinding. They are colourful and absolutely gorgeous. They show how cats truly act which we still can observe to this day. To reinforce my statement, let’s take a look at a few of these stunning pieces of art.
We will start off with a mosaic from Pompeii. We can see a cat hunting for birds which are tranquilly drinking water. They probably don’t see the cat. The colours are a little bit washed out, likely due to its age.
Now, we will check out another mosaic. This one illustrates a cat which got its prey. The bird is trying to aimlessly free itself from cat’s powerful grip. The colours in this artwork are more lively. Owing to its age, it is immensely mind-blowing.
During the Middle Ages cats were viewed in an utterly different way. As most of you probably know, throughout these times Christianity was an absolutely essential part of daily life for most people. As I stated before, in ancient times cats were treated as though they were gods. Obviously, Christians were not too keen on this idea. Due to this fact artists had begun portraying cats as appalling creatures with the aim of ruining their flawless image. Cats were presented as extremely hideous, twisted and outraged. Painters tried their best to show how demonic cats truly are. Those unpleasant faces of cats were shown in contrary to angelic and tranquil expressions of people. In the course of the Dark Ages, artist were creating in order to pay homage to God so we do not know names of creators who painted masterpieces I am about to present to you. This painting depicts a tremendously grotesque cat which is leaning on something red, perhaps a sofa. The next piece of art shows a white cat with a twisted expression walking in a bizzare way.
During the Renaissance cats in any art form were appearing extremely rarely. Let’s look at a few existing examples. Leonardo da Vinci was quite a lover of cats and he did a fair amount of sketches portraying them. To begin with, let’s take a closer look at a sketch titled ”Study for the Madonna of the Cat”. It was drawn using a pen and brown ink. Picture shows Madonna holding a child who is hugging a cat. Leonardo also sketched cats alone in a variety of poses.
"Study for the Madonna of the Cat"
Cat sketches by Leonardo da Vinci
In Baroque cats appeared mostly on religious paintings as a symbol of evil. However, there was one artist named Jacopo Bassano who showed cats in a more favourable light. He painted them as witnesses during Bible scenes, not as appalling creatures but more friendly. Looking at his masterpieces, we can see cats appear more in the background. Yet, we cannot dismiss the fact that they are there. One of them is a painting titled ”The Supper at Emmaus”. We can catch a glimpse of a cat which lurks behind a chair.
"The Supper at Emmaus"
Now let’s look at the Age of Enlightenment. During this time ordering portraits started to gain popularity. Not only were humans presented on canvases, cats were too. Additionally, hunting scenes in which cats were playing main roles began to get a massive outreach. Jean-Baptiste Perronneau in one of his masterpieces presented a charming girl in blue dress, holding a grey fluffy cat. A brilliant example of a hunting scene is a masterpiece painted by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. In a picture we can see two black and white cats. One of them is holding a bird under its paw. The other one is looking straight almost as if it was looking at the viewer.
Throughout the XIX century cats as animals started gaining a more positive outreach. They started being present in houses and painters’ studios. Cats started being used to capture more domestic ambience, calmness and warmth. They were for the most part depicted with children. Edouard Manet presented a cat accompanying breakfast in his piece of art called ”Breakfast in the studio”. While Edouard’s painting shows cats’ presence during daily activities, Auguste Renoir in his masterpiece titled ”Portrait of a Julie Monte” portrayed a young girl hugging a cat and from what I can see, the animal truly enjoys it. The painting emanates joy and harmony.
"Portrait of a Julie Monte"
"Breakfast in the studio"
"Three Kittens and Two Butterflies" by Benedict Kogl
Throughout the time of XX century cats grew immensely in popularity. Different shapes and sizes show the exact essence of modern art. People were spellbound by their extraordinary treats. Appealed by their beauty artists created a plethora of different paintings. One of painters who truly fell in love with a painting cat was Benedict Kogl, whose nickname was Cat Kogl. His masterpieces featuring cats are absolutely adorable to this day. We will promptly go through a few of his paintings. Yet, I encourage to take a closer look at all his masterpieces for he was an extremely acclaimed artist. I personally fancy the ”Three Kittens and Two Butterflies” and ”Three Kittens Singing” the most. These pieces of art are exactly what the titles say. In them cats are depicted in endearing way. As I said before, all of his work is worth taking a look at. We also cannot miss Pablo Picasso. He too, was a huge admirer of cats which did not stop him from portraying them like a beasts. In his masterpiece titled ”Cat Catching a Bird” artist showed a cat with its prey - a bird.
"Three Kittens singing" by Benedict Kogl
"Cat Catching a Bird" by Pablo Picasso
Cats in XXI century are shown the utmost appreciation. Pop culture favours cats, we can easily notice them scrolling through Pinterest. Some of them are portrayed as cartoons, others looking extremely realistic. I suppose most of us have seen a cat in a cartoon style however there are more styles than that. An artist named Tokuhiro Kawai paints masterpieces which look like these from renaissance but instead of humans in the main role he places cats. His pieces of art are absolutely stunning, realistic and adorable. I highly recommend following him on Instagram where he posts his art.
"Tame Cat's Optical Illusion"
Cats have been portrayed in art since ancient times. Through the ages they were loved and detested. In ancient times treated like gods whereas in Dark Ages like the most cruel creatures in the whole world and a symbol of sin and hatred. When XIX century came cats stared regaining their reputation. To this day they are favoured not only in art but also in day to day live as domestic animals. They are more like friends to people, less like gods or hunters. They have found their place in our hearts and on our couches.
All in all, cats were not always seen as positive animals but it did not stop us from viewing them as we do now.
Pusheen