Cats in Paintings

Cats in paintings are pictures of cats and that is why they are on this website. There are some very interesting uses of the domestic cat, and of the wild cat in paintings, by well known and lesser known artists. There is some very good art of cats by people who are not strictly artists too. It is found everywhere including on the street.

Franz_Marc-Two_Cats,Blue_and_Yellow

Also, there are a lot of the paintings from an era well before the cat fancy and the concept of purebred cats. These are a source of information about the development of the cat companion and our relationship with cats at a time when there is little in the way of text to inform us.

If you know of some art containing cats then I would like to see or hear about it please. You can share by completing the form below and uploading pictures.

I’ll be adding my stuff to the list of submissions, which can be seen by scrolling to below the form. There are links to pages below the form as well.

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What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page…

Chartreux cat of 1747  In this painting of 1747 by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Portrait of Magdaleine Pinceloup de la Grange, née de Parseval, you see a nice grey cat.

It immediately …

Porträt der Mademoiselle Julie Manet mit Katze  This is a portrait of Julie Manet with a cat. It is by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) the celebrated French artist who was a leading light in the …

Sasha & Chilli in Watercolour Pencils  Hi I just got back into painting this week and need a little practice but I love my cats so I started with them.

This is my beautiful tabby Sasha and …

Painting of a Tabby Cat by Takeuchi Seihō  I really like the Japanese style of painting and this watercolour of a tabby cat by Takeuchi Seihō . I like its precision and control. It shows a …

Pierre Bonnard Le Chat Blanc 1894  I think I am going to have to speculate and use my imagination when writing about Pierre Bonnard’s Le Chat Blanc painted in 1894 as I can’t find anything …

Arthur Heyer Paintings of a Dog Mucki and an Angora Cat  This is a short post due to pressure of time. It is on the subject of four Arthur Heyer paintings of a dog Mucki and an Angora cat . I am speculating …

Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Four Cats In Different Poses  Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Four Cats In Different Poses is a painting that is, for me, all about the famous Japanese bobtail cat. Kuniyoshi Utagawa (歌川…

The Anthropomorphism of Wild Cats and Domestic Cats  I consistently see the Anthropomorphism of wild cats and domestic cats in old drawings and paintings. Anthropomorphism (try and spell that!) is the attribution …

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Le Chat Angora  Jean-Honoré Fragonard Le Chat Angora. This is a painting of a white Angora cat with a lady and in the centre is a large mirrored globe. The globe reflects …

William Hogarth – The Distressed Poet  William Hogarth – The Distressed Poet….I am interested in this painting because I have driven past Hogarth’s country residence many times. The interesting …

The Old Woman and the Cat (Akka ja kissa)  The Old Woman and the Cat ( Akka ja kissa ) (1885) is a painting that I like very much and not just because it has a cat in it! It was painted by a …

Portrait of the Painter Franz Pforr  This is an article about this painting, Portrait of the Painter Franz Pforr . The German title is Porträt des Malers Franz Pforr . I am interested in …

LOLA LE CHAT  LOLA LE CHAT
Artiste : Cristina CARMONA
Création : octobre 2009
Prix : 50 Euros
Technique : Acrylique
Support : Toile sur châssis à clés
Format : 24,…

Portrait de Jeune Femme Tenant un Chat  The translation is a portrait of a young woman holding a cat. I guess most visitors would deduce that!

Bacchiacca Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Portrait of Cleophea Holzhalb  Portrait of Cleophea Holzhalb is dated 1538. This is an early date to see a painting with a domestic cat featured so prominently. It is interesting for …

Fleurs et chats by Pierre-Auguste Renoir  This is another oil painting by Renoir, painted in 1881, when Renoir was 40 years of age. I have just written about his painting Julie Manet with a cat …

Three Watercolours of African Cats  The lion is known as Dark Mane by the BBC Big Cat Diary technicians.

The leopard female is stalking through grasses for food for her baby.

Leopard …

Portrait of Pierre Loti by Henri Rousseau  Well, I was attracted to this portrait (below right) because it had a cat in it – what a surprise. And this is a very strange looking cat. Although it …

Wildcat Art  I would like to show you some wildcat art in the form of oil and watercolor paintings. The artists are both extremely talented; Rochelle Mason who paints …

Franz Marc Cat behind a Tree  At 21st March 2009, the painting, Kinderbild (Katze hinter einem Baum) or “Children’s painting (cat behind a tree),” by Fritz Marc has been returned …

Study of Cat Movements and Positions  Leonardo da Vinci’s Study of Cat Movements and Positions is interesting on two levels. Firstly there is the obvious Leonardo genius in drawing, with …

Franz Marc Three Cats  Three Cats was made in 1913. It is Oil on canvas. It’s size is: 72 x 102 cm. The German artist, Franz Marc, was a talented expressionist painter who …

Cats in paintings is a gradually expanding page. There have been many artists who loved cats. I don’t know if there are a higher percentage of people who like cats amongst artists. Perhaps someone can tell me? My guess is that authors and artists are more likely to like cats and get on with them. And, of course, a cat is good company for an artist. They are reliably there but not too demanding and intrusive allowing the artist to get on with his or her work.

More cats in paintings:

Boucher – La Toilette
A decorative painting from 1742, well before the Abyssinian cat was imported into the Europe. But is this an Abyssinian cat in the picture? It could be. It could change the history of this well known and popular cat as it is evidence that this cat breed was imported into Europe well before the accepted date.

Arthur Heyer – Angora Kitten
Arthur Heyer was a German-Hungarian painter of animals, cats, dogs, horses etc. His cats are his most popular works today and prints are widely on sale on the internet. He was an extremely talented draftsman. His work tends towards the “chocolate box” and is probably why it is still so popular.

Mary Cassatt – Children Playing with a Cat
Mary Cassatt was an America artist who lived much of her life in France amongst artists like herself including the Impressionists. She came from a well to do family in Pennsylvania. She was little know during her life but her paintings are valuable today.

Francisco de Goya – Boy with Cats
This is my title, by the way. It is a painting of a prince with magpies and some cats – how many? There were companion cats in 1734 just like now.

Cat by Francisco Domingo Marqués
A beautiful young (female?) cat probably painted in the late 1800s, a time when the companion cat was becoming more popular.

Azerbaiyan Stamps
In 1995, Azerbaijan depicted purebred cats on their stamps. A rare thing, and the cat featured in this post is also rare, a Chartreux.

Dali Atomicus Incorporated Three Flying Cats
This is a very famous photograph by a well known photographer in cooperation with a very well known artist. What about those cats? The world was less politically correct in those days.

Jules Leroy Playful Kittens
This is one of many Jules Leroy’s cat paintings. There are a number of Frenchmen with similar names by the way. He clearly loved cats and probably lived with more than one. Judging by his paintings he lived with tabby and white semi-longhaired moggie cats.

Frans Koppelaar Tom Cat
I like this living artist. A fine Dutch painter of landscape, cityscape and portrait and occasionally (maybe once!) a lovely large orange and white tom cat, perhaps his cat companion.

The Cat’s Paw
This is a fascinating painting of a monkey holding the paw of a cat against a hot stove and smiling while he did it. You work it out!

More Cats in Paintings to come…………..

Oil Paintings Reproductions
Oil paintings on canvas artwork of over 3,000 artists – including Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, and more. All artwork can be optionally framed

Cats in Paintings to Cat Images

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