Cats in Art: The First Steps (Fragonard)

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).

This will be the last of 5 posts on the cat art of Jean-Honore Fragonard.

Image credit The Athenaeum, The First Steps, Jean-Honore Fragonard, ca 1780, 18" x 22", oil on canvas, held by Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Greater Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

And the kitty close-up:

Not much of a view of the kitty's rear end, though we can tell that this feline is a calico cat.  And that's about it.  But it's really cool that Fragonard, a cat lover from centuries ago, apparently loved cats, and children/grandchildren.

So much so that in this 4-generation painting he included a kitty in this depiction of a major life milestone that happens in practically every household on the planet where there are children.

And so this anonymous calico has achieved immortality.

And at last, late in his life, it appears that Fragonard finally learned how to paint a cat (see previous 4 posts!).

[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!]