Cats in Art: The Geese of the Capitol (Motte)

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).

The bride and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in France where we were privileged to see both the Louvre and Orsay Museums.  Of the two, the Orsay was much better--less crowded, could get closer to the paintings, more cats.

This is the second of a pair of posts on the art of Paul-Henri Motte.

Image credit Wikimedia Commons, The Geese of the Capitol, Henri-Paul Motte, 1889, medium, size, and ownership unspecified.

And the kitty close-up, very reminiscent of the lion in The Fiancee of Belus featured here a couple of weeks ago:

Wikimedia Commons tells us this:

While the Roman soldiers and watch dogs slept, Juno's sacred geese on the Capitol warned Rome of the Gallic attack in 390 BC.

And that terse statement is about all I could ascertain about this painting.  It is a fascinating work, true to Mott's inclination towards historical realism in his paintings.

The poor lion seems revulsed by the water spouting forth from its mouth.  Can't say that I blame him.

[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!]