Cats in Art: The Denying of Peter (Molenaer)

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 is the third of a series of posts featuring some art from Jan Miense Moleaer, a Dutch artist from the middle 1600s.

Image credit The Aetheneum, The Denying of Peter, Jan Miense Molenaer, 1636, oil on canvas, 39" x 53", held by Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest,  Hungary.


And the mandatory close up of the basking kitty down there at the bottom left near the fire:

That poor kitty would just love to be basking over near the fire...but look at her expression: wary watchfulness  Not relaxation.

Any the title, to me, is confusing.  Everyone is looking at the bald, white-bearded guy in the upper right, who must be Peter, the disciple of Jesus, who denied Jesus.  Yet the remainder of the figures seem thoroughly Dutch rather than Roman.  Go figure.

[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!]