Cats in Art: A Group of People Teasing a Dog With a Cat (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 fourth of a series of posts featuring some art from Jan Miense Moleaer, a Dutch artist from the middle 1600s.

Image credit The Aetheneum, A Group of People Teasing a Dog With a Cat, Jan Miense Molenaer, 1627, oil on panel, 10" x 17", held by Florence Court - National Trust  (United Kingdom - Enniskillen)

And the mandatory close up of the unfortunate kitty in the center:

The paintings of Molenaer are typically bright and vibrant.  I include this one simply because it's the opposite: dark and dingy.  The viewer can barely even make out the cat in the middle.  But I truly doubt that's how it appeared when it was new--more than likely, we are trying to view this painting through the accumulated grime and smoke of 400 years.

The other thing that touches me about this painting is related to today's political climate, where otherwise good people are losing their brains into a sort of mob mentality, where bullying and making fun of the unchampioned is now suddenly okay.

As my good friend DS once observed, "Mobs blow."

[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!]