Cats in Art: La Duchesse Abrantes et le General Junot (Gerard)

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 is the last of several posts on the cat art of Marguerite Gerard.

Image credit The Athenaeum, La Duchesse Abrantes et le General Junot, Marguerite Gerard, no other information available.

The kitty close-up reveals (poorly) a cat crouched down at the front left corner:

After the almost in-your-face cats in my recent posts on Gerard, this nondescript gray cat, whose form is scarcely recognizable as a feline, huddles unobtrusively in an otherwise bright, cheery painting.

Why Gerard painted this gray kitty this way, adding it to this social image, will remain forever a mystery.  I'm thinking the most simple explanation: this cat belonged to the Duchesse, who requested it be painted for posterity.  Thus an unidentified little gray cat from a couple of centuries ago achieves immortality of sorts.

[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!]