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Period: 2500 BCE to 1100 BCE
The Minoan Civilization
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Period: 2050 BCE to 1700 BCE
Middle Kingdom period in Ancient Egypt
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Period: 1700 BCE to 1570 BCE
Second Intermediate period in Ancient Egypt
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Period: 1569 BCE to 1070 BCE
New Kingdom Period in Ancient Egypt
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1464 BCE
Seated Dog, Tomb of Nebamun, Egypt.
This is a minor detail from a wall painting in the Tomb of Nebamun. This shows a dog sitting next to his master’s chair. -
Period: 1069 BCE to 600 BCE
Third Intermediate Period in Ancient Egypt
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Period: 1050 BCE to 750 BCE
The Dark Ages of Greece
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664 BCE
Cat with Kittens, Brooklyn Museum.
Egyptians associated the fertility of a female cat and motherly care, with many fine divinities. At the base of this statue, there is an inscription that is asking Bastet to grant life. So, the cat that is portrayed here, is in some way, linked to the goddess, Bastet. -
Period: 600 BCE to 333 BCE
Late Period in Ancient Egypt
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Period: 500 BCE to 325 BCE
The Greek Classical Period
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Period: 356 BCE to 323 BCE
Alexander The Great
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Period: 333 BCE to 400
Greco-Roman Period
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Period: 325 BCE to 1 BCE
The Hellenistic Period
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30 BCE
Cat's Head, Brooklyn Museum.
This is a cat’s head made of bronze, and it also incorporates gold onto the ears of the cat. This could’ve been made to show the appreciation and royalty of cats. -
Period: 1 BCE to 475
The Roman Empire
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Period: 330 to 1450
The Byzantine Empire
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Period: 1400 to
The Renaissance
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1480
Sketch of Virgin with Child and Cat, Leonardo Da Vinci. This is located in the British Museum.
Leonardo Da Vinci liked to include cats within many of his sketches and paintings, because he found them to be intriguing. In this sketch, it is a cat being embraced by a child, and the child is being embraced by a man/his father. This could be showing his love for cats, and that he thought cats should be associated with family. -
1480
The Last Supper, Domenico Ghirlandaio. Located in the Monastery San Marco, Florence.
In this fresco, Ghirlandaio has shown Christ and the apostles all sitting on one side of a long banquet table. Except, Judas is separated from everyone, and he is sitting opposite from Christ. Ghirlandaio also has a lone cat on the right of Judas, and it could represent Judas’ treason and his influence of evil. -
1514
Study Sheet with Cats, Leonardo Da Vinci. Located in the Royal Library, Windsor.
Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Even the smallest feline is a masterpiece.” He probably chose to portray this many cats within one sketch, because of how highly he appreciated cats, and that he wanted to show his love/respect for cats, too. -
Period: to
The Baroque Period
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The Fall of Man, Hendrik Goltzius. Located in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
In this painting there isn’t just a man and a woman, but there is also a cat and a goat. The goat is in the background, and the cat is clearly next to the figures. In this painting, each animal has some symbolic significance, and the cat represents lust and desire. -
Peasant Interior with an Old Flute Player, Louis Le Nain. Located in the Kimbell Art Museum.
In this painting there is a family completely fulfilled and happy, even though they’re peasants. Louis Le Nain also included a dog and a cat within this painting. I believe that he did this to show that these animals are sincerely loved and respected by this family, and that they consider them as family. -
Katzen Familie, Jan Steen. Located in the Magyar Szepmuveszeti Museum.
This painting has a rowdy group of people playing instruments, singing, and drinking. Among all of this craze, there is a mother cat and her kittens, being held by two women. Steen has chosen to portray these cats as a comforting figure, to people. -
The Idle Servant, Nicolaes Maes. Located in The National Gallery.
This painting has a housemaid that is dealing with tons of everyday domestic problems and issues. Maes decided to put a cat, with a dead bird in his mouth, to symbolize the chaos that is going on within this household, and within the housemaid’s life. -
Woman Feeding a Cat, Gabriel Metsu. Located in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
In this painting there is a woman with a plate of food on her lap, a dead chicken in the foreground, and a fallen flower from the bouquet on the table. The fallen flower symbolizes death. It seems that the focus in this painting is death, and the cat is used as a type of comfort for this woman. -
Period: to
The Golden Age of Romanticism
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Four Cats in Different Poses, Kuniyoshi Utagawa.
Within this woodblock print, Utagawa is clearly showing the serene and calm attitude that cats have, just by showing the cat in four different poses. He has it sitting up, licking itself, playing, and laying down. From this, Utagawa has successfully captured the calmness of this cat. -
Period: to
Impressionism Period
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Period: to
Post-Impressionism Period
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Period: to
Cubism Period
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Cat Prowling Around a Staked Tomato Plant, Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei). Located in The Museum of Fine Arts.
Hiroaki is choosing to show the curious side of a cat, as he’s prowling around a staked tomato plant. It’s hard to tell what Hiroaki was trying to capture. Was he trying to show the cat sneaking up to the tomato, or was he trying to capture the cat exploring. It’s hard to say, but Hiroaki is clearly capturing the curiosity of this cat. -
Yellow Sam with Red Eyes, Andy Warhol. Located in the Sims Reed Gallery.
This is another one of the many great cat paintings/drawings that Warhol did to capture his unconditional love for his favorite animal, cats, throughout his career. -
Pink Sam with Pink Eyes, Andy Warhol. Located in the Sims Reed Gallery.
This is just one of the many cat paintings/drawings that Warhol did throughout his career. He did these paintings to show his love for his favorite animal, cats. -
Brown Sam with Orange Eyes, Andy Warhol. Located in the Sims Reed Gallery.
Once again, this is another one of the many cat paintings/drawings that Warhol did to show his love and appreciation for his favorite animal, cats. -
Fuschia Sam, Andy Warhol. Located in the Sims Reed Gallery.
This is one of the 25 other cat paintings/drawings that Warhol did in his cat series. He did this series to show his love for cats, and to show the vast varieties and differences of this animal. -
Brown Sam with Blue Eyes, Andy Warhol. Located in the Sims Reed Gallery.
This is also one of the 25 cat paintings/drawings that Warhol did in his cat series. Once again, he did this to not only show his love for his favorite animal, cats, but he also did it to show viewers the beauty of this animal, too. -
Two Kittens, Kaoru Kawano.
Kawano is clearly showing the comforting/loving side of cats, within this work of art, as one cat is comforting/cuddling with another cat.
