Cats in Art: Annunciation (Barocci)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

Image credit here. Annunciation, Federico Barocci, 1592-96, Oil on canvas, 109" x 66 ", held by Santa Maria Degli Angelli, Assisi, Italy.


A close-up of the sleeping cat in the left foreground is the image that Zuffi uses to grace the cover of his book, The Cat in Art.  This is the second Barocci cat painting in a row that I am using--the guy loved his cats, I guess.

Zuffi has a long explanation, but the money quote is simply this: "...the cat is blissfully snoring by the sewing basket."

Doesn't get much better than that, does it?