Cats in Art: Four Studies of Kittens (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  You really should check out and/or own both of these wonderful works, easily available on Amazon or eBay (and I have no financial interest).

Image credit Community ArtAuthority, Four Studies of Kittens, Alexandre-Francois Desportes, ca 1710, oil on light brown paper, 10" x 20", held in a private collection.

Bulger's comment:

The artist has depicted yowling kittens so convincingly that one can almost hear their cries.  Desportes was the foremost animal painter in France in the early years of the 18th century...his considerable success was founded on accurate observation and the ability to convey a sense of each animal as an individual.

What's not to like about kittens, except that these guys all seem to be in some greater or lesser extent of agitation?  The only one of the crew that seems somewhat calmer than the other felines is the one at the top center, and even that kitty seems a tad on edge as it seems to mew rather than holler.

Bulger believes that this oil sketch was later finalized as this painting.  I featured that painting here at Cats in Art a couple of years ago.

Image credit Community ArtAuthority, A Dog and a Cat Fighting in a Kitchen Interior.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: A Cat Attacking Dead Game (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the sixth  of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Atheneum, A Cat Attacking Dead Game,
Alexandre-Francois Desportes, 1700s, oil on canvas, dimensions unspecified, held in a private collection.

And the kitty close-up:

OK, you've borne with me through a month and a half of mostly cats with dead stuff as imaged by Desportes.  Being tempted, as it were, to be bad kitties.  Mostly they failed (well, actually I guess they failed in every case, giving in to their natural hunting instincts).

But what I keep coming back to is just how marvelously Desportes captures these cats, and this bad calico is no exception....total focus, deadly intent.  Desportes manages to grab these behaviors while simultaneously capturing the physical details of fur, paws, face, and ears.  

As I often say, too bad that most of these Desportes paintings are hanging in somebody's private collection rather than in a museum.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Still Life With a Cat (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the fifth of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Aetheneum, Still Life With a Cat, Alexandre-Francois Desportes, 1724, oil on canvas, no information on dimensions, held in a private collection.

The kitty close-up from the upper right of the painting:

I am blown away by the awesome detail that Desportes brings to this painting.  Just look at the face of this kitty, and the rendering of the fur and posture.

Those poor, pathetic mushrooms are about to be swept from the table and some real food pulled down.

Probably as much as--or more than--any painter I have featured over these past 5+ years of my Cats in Art posts, my hat is off to Desportes for his near-photographic realism of the feline form.  And I have to assume that any cat he "owned" was a lucky kitty, indeed.


[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: A Dog and a Cat Fighting in a Kitchen Interior (Desportes)

Gary Note: sorry this is is day late.  Life, etc.

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the fourth of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Aetheneum, A Dog and a Cat Fighting in a Kitchen Interior, Alexandre-Francois Desportes, 1710, oil on canvas, no information on dimensions, held in a private collection.

And the disturbing kitty/dog close-up:

The dog is dead serious, and the cat is overmatched.  One can only hope that the dog's slashing attack missed causing serious damage, and that the kitty managed to high-tail it out of there.  And check out the close-up again: if there is such a thing as an artist painting an "Oh, shit!" facial expression on an animal, Desportes manages to do it right here.

However....did you notice the other kitties in the painting?  I almost missed them since the viewer's eye iis drawn immediately to the big fight.  There's a cat down in the lower left, another one immediately below the fight (looking strangely composed, despite all the action), and another just above the fight.  Plus that might even be a fourth cat lurking to the right of the dangling goose.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Kittens at Play (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the third of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Great Cat, Kittens at Play,  Alexandre-Francois Desportes, no other information available, held in a private collection.

Of the four kittens painted here by Desportes around 1700, the three in the front are complaining about something, or perhaps three distinct somethings.  But it's the kitty in the back--who also seems a tad needy, but not as much as its compadres--that draws my attention.

Desportes renders this adorable kitten in a manner worthy of a 2016 first-class adoption promotion.  If I were looking for a kitty, that one would be it.

Looking at the entire image, Desportes captures so well the nuances of cat bodies: the texture and pattern of the fur, the mouth, the eyes, the paws....He must have been a cat "owner."

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Still Life With Cat (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the second of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Great Cat, Still Life With Cat,  Alexandre-Francois Desportes, no other information available, held by the Liverpool Walker Gallery.

This image comes from the same web site as last week, but unfortunately I have been unable to discern any more information about the date and size of the painting.  I just know that the kitty is being very opportunistic...in other words, just being a cat.

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Cat and Dead Game (Desportes)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art.  Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art.  

This'll be the first of several Alexandre-Francois Desportes paintings that will be featured here.

Image credit The Great Cat, Cat and Dead Game,  Alexandre-Francois Desportes, ca 1700-1750, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown, held in a private collection.

Typically here I place a close-up of the the cat image, though in this case there is no need for a kitty close-up: the cat pretty much fills this painting.

This is an absolutely gorgeous painting.  The bride and I having once had a beautiful black and white kitty, I suppose I might be biased a bit towards such cats.  But gorgeous seems to be the only word that does this painting justice.  The cat is perfectly rendered, with outstanding detail of the fur, the face, the feet, the eyes, the whiskers.... I guess you get the idea that I kinda love this painting!  I would love to see it in person to be able to scope out the actual brushstrokes.

However, the sad part of this painting is that it is held in a private collection.  Without sounding too much like Indiana Jones, it belongs in a museum for all the world to see.

Note that back in 2010 I did another Desportes painting, much better known, called Cats Attacking Dead Game.  Here's the link for you to click over and enjoy!

[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art.  You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]

Cats in Art: Cat Attacking Dead Game

Continuing my Sunday tradition of Cats in Art. 

Photo and text credit here.

Detailed, almost photo-realistic, still life paintings became highly popular during the 17th & 18th centuries. This still life painting is livened up a bit by the presence of a cat who is about to grab some game for herself.


[c. 1700, Alexandre-François Desportes, A Cat Attacking Dead Game, painting]

You just gotta do what you gotta do to survive.  I've always thought that female cats (this one is a calico, thus female) are better hunters than the males, presumably because they often have more mouths to feed.