Cats in Art: Children with a Cage of Birds and a Cat (Le Nain)

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 this fall 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 post 2 of 4 on the art of the Le Main brothers, Louis, Antoine and Mathieu.   Here is what is commonly known about this painting trio of collaborative artists, whose individual works are not well distinguished.

The National Gallery of the UK tells us:

The three Le Nain brothers, Antoine, Louis and Mathieu, are now best known for their scenes of peasant life, and small-scale portraits. They worked in collaboration and it is not possible to distinguish their individual hands.

And from the site Visual Arts Cork:

A major contributor to French painting during the first half of the 17th century, the Le Nain Brothers based themselves on the tradition of the Netherlandish Renaissance - notably Dutch Realist Genre Painting - rather than the more classical Baroque painting of Rome. Like the art of Dutch Realist artists from Leiden, Amsterdam and Delft - which they interpreted with a French eye - the Le Nain brothers specialized in genre painting and portrait art (typically of peasants, beggars and artisans) which they executed with a realism unique for their day. Their subjects are invariably portrayed with great dignity and composure. Precise details of the brothers' lives are unknown, as is the extent of their individual contributions to their (mostly) collaborative works. 

Image credit Wikimedia Commons, Children With a Cage of Birds and a Cat, the Le Nain Brothers, ca 1646, oil on canvas, 56.5 x 44 cm, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany.

I personally cannot seem to make out any birds in the cage, though my eyes are certainly not what they once were.  Maybe there's an avian critter waaaaaay over on the right in the cage....but you'd have to actually stand in front of this painting to tell for sure. And to do that you would have to visit the town of Karlsruhe, Germany and the Kunsthalle Museum.  Sounds like a road trip to me!

Even the cat seems to not be reacting to a caged bird.  The kitty seems pretty out of it.

[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: Peasant Family in an Interior (Le Nain)

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 this fall 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 first of 4 posts on the art of the brothers Le Nain, Louis, Antoine, and Mathieu.  More on the brothers next week; let's just enjoy this painting today.

Image credit Wikimedia Commons, Peasant Family in an Interior, Louis (or Antoine) Le Nain, 1643, oil on canvas, 44" x 62", held by The Louvre, Paris, France.

 And the kitty close-up from the front foreground:

Frederic Vitoux and Elisabeth Foucart-Walter, authors of Cats in the Louvre, have this to say about the cat:

The funny little black-and-white cat with the symmetrical markings on his head has also turned up for roll call.  Having forsaken the warmth of the fireplace of which members of his species are inordinately fond, he has settled down on the bare floor, in line with several kitchen utensils larger than him.  The tip of his nose peeks out between an ladle and a glazed earthenware vessel on three feet whose lid seems to be acting as his shield.

The humans in the image seem so very, very serious, as though a death has just occurred in the family.  Only the man in the hat seems to have any life in his eyes.  Even the wide-eyed cat seems tentative and uneasy, as though waiting for another negative shoe to drop.

The painting itself is quite skillfully rendered.  The earth tones, the dark background, the human expressions (or lack thereof!) all combine to set a somber, spare scene of a family just kinda hanging on.  Yet the painting is surprisingly bright.  Regardless, if Le Nain's intent was to portray life seeming to be a joyless grind, he certainly succeeded.  Good thing they have a kitty!

[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: The Artist Painting, Surrounded by his His Family (Van Veen)

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 this fall 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.

Image credit Wikimedia Commons, The Artist Painting, Surrounded by his His Family, Otto Van Veen, 1584, oil on canvas, 69" x 98", held by The Louvre, Paris, France.

And the kitty close-up:

From the Frederic Vitoux and Elisabeth Foucart-Walter book Cats in the Louvre:

To each indiviudual he [Van Veen] carefully allotted a tiny figure (it appears above their head and is admittedly difficult make out in a reproduction), which refers to the numbered list of the first names of the nineteen family members represented on the cartouche to the right.  But the name of the cat, who also formed part of the household, he simply forgot, so we will never know what [the name was of] the engaging-looking puss rubbing up against the cartouche on the left (which stipulates that the picture is to remain in the artist's estate) and who is being fussed over by a little girl named Elizabeth, which was the name of a niece of the painter.

This unnamed male cat has the skinniest tail I have ever seen.  And it's obviously a mild-manned kitty--just look at the expression on his face.  And evidently beloved, as the painter saw fit to include him in the painting of his family and thus be immortalized forever.

I've ranted about cat names before--one of my pet (ha ha) peeves.  But I'll do it again here.  Whenever I am asked, "What is your cat's name?" I never answer, for example "Her name is Amanda."  Instead I always say "We call her Amanda," because I maintain that people can never really know the true name of a cat--what they call themselves.  All we know is the name we have stuck on them.

[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: Jupiter and Antiope... (Sellaer)

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.

Image credit The Athenaeum, Jupiter as a Satyr with Antiope, Queen of Thebes, with their Twins Amphion and Zethos, Vincent Sellaer, circa 1550, oil on panel, 55" x 40", held by the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Unfortunately, we did not see this painting in person, but a bizarre one indeed it is: a near-naked goddess, four cherubic children, one cat, and what appears to be a devil or some such up there in the upper right.  Well, duh, I guess he's Jupiter, and a satyr, given the title of the piece.

The analysis from Frederic Vitoux and Elisabeth Foucart-Walter, authors of Cats in the Louvre:

In spite of his apparent indifference to the scene, the animal certainly plays a role in the meaning of work.  With the strange painterly realism and tactile sensuality he exudes, he might readily be interpreted as an emblem of lust and thus be singularly at home in this inventive evocation of an outlandish tale from the loves of the gods.

I have a different idea, based upon the kitty close-up:

Not quite unhappy enough, the kitty is looking for a break and will bolt fairly soon.  Trust me, I know cats.  They have tells.  As for the notion that the kitty represents lust?  Not quite buying it.  This docile cat got sucked into this goat-rope and will soon be outta there.

[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!]