vintage photo time

thanks ampersand bulk bin

It's June 1952, and that is one huge, happy cat.

1911: a funny, odd kitty picture book

Here's the first two pages from Kittens and Cats: A Book of Tales by Eulalie Osgood Grover (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), in which a queen issues a command to all her cat people to attend her party.  The rest of the book introduces various kitty characters, dressed up and full of news about themselves.  It's ... so weirdly cute!  Want to see it?  Here is its Internet Archive page. (Look at the left where it says "View This Book" - View Online probably easiest for you.)

public domain

baudelaire's "the cat" x3

"Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux," reads the first line of cat-adoring Charles Baudelaire's poem Le Chat (The Cat).  So how many ways may these French words be translated?  Here's three:


Come, superb cat, to my amorous heart


Come, my fine cat, against my loving heart


My beautiful cat, come onto my heart full of love


Isn't that fascinating?  And in any guise, it's a most intimate and experimental piece on all the beauties offered by a cat.  I am thrilled to have found this page at fleursdumal.org, where you may read all three translations as well as the original.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

the hurdy-gurdy man's dog

thanks wikimedia commons. public domain.

Those guarded, often sad-eyed dogs you see with street musicians are nothing new.  Here's one from the mid-1600's as portrayed by Georges de La Tour (French; 1593-1652).  This fellow is a detail from "Ghironda Player with Dog."  (A ghironda is a sort of hurdy-gurdy.)  In the original painting, you'll see there are a couple of food-like items on the ground next to the dog, a piece of fruit and perhaps a piece of bread; certainly nothing he'd like to eat, but based on the ragged state of his master's cloak, he may have to settle.  De La Tour painted a number of hurdy-gurdy men among his other works, and is distinguished by his strong use of light versus shadow.  If you thought that looked a lot like Caravaggio's work, you're right - he was likely taught by Dutch followers of Caravaggio's work.  Powerful, isn't it?  

we break from normal pet types to bring you the year of the dragon

thanks wikimedia commons. public domain.

I wish there were dragons, actually, though they would be tough to house.  Here's a fabulous fellow from the hand of the great Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) to welcome you to the Year of The Dragon.  The curatorial spouse is a Dragon, so I couldn't very well talk up my Rabbit year and not give a shout to this benevolent creature.  The Asian dragon is considered awe-inspiring and powerful, but also just and a bringer of wealth and good fortune.  A good friend to have, no?  You can tell this is a Japanese, not Chinese, dragon because it has three claws on each foot, not four or (if he was an Imperial dragon) five.  Besides, he hasn't got any wings and is more serpentine in form.  You can learn all this and a lot more about Asian dragons at this very detailed and interesting page.  Come on, look at his face. How can you resist that friendly smile?
Happy Year of The Dragon to you all!

saint nicholas of the cats

From The Cosmopolitan, volume 2 nos 1- 6 (Sept. 1886 - Feb. 1887), p.312:
Upon a cape extending from the Isle of Cyprus, there formerly stood a monastery, whose monks were solemnly bound to keep cats to destroy the snakes infesting the island. When a certain bell rang the cats came to their meals, and then set forth again in pursuit of the reptiles. The monastery and cats were destroyed by the Turks, who conquered the island towards the close of the sixteenth century; but, for many years after, the cape was called "Cat Cape."
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That cape is still called Cat Cape.  It turns out that monastery was rebuilt and is called Saint Nicholas of The Cats, with a nod to the critters that have been kicking around there for close to two millenia now.  I found an article with photos here.

a cat relaxes in a warm garden

thanks wikipaintings.org - public domain

Here is Raminou, who belonged to the French painter Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938).  He pops up in her work now and again in his kitty life; this is from 1932. I was hoping she had painted him looking at snow or in an otherwise wintry mood, as I'm currently housebound under a sheet of ice and snow 5 inches thick, and looked for something along that theme today.  Such was not to be.  Instead I'll wish myself into this work, "Raminou and pitcher with carnations," where it's warm and lush (Valadon was good at simple animal lushness) and this fine smug cat needs his chin tickled.
Valadon was a free spirit to be reckoned with.  You might find this short biography interesting.

vintage photo time

another great find from ampersand!

All I know about this photo is that it is simply fabulous. Look at that young lady's stylish outfit (and those shoes, I want those shoes).  Look at that little boy's shiny curls.  And last but not least, look at the dog's ears!

a kind dog, liverpool

An ill-fated cat fell into the hands of some juvenile ruffians commencing the first stage of cruelty. They alternately stoned their victim, dragged it through a pool of dirty water, beat it and bruised it, and menaced it with drowning. Bipeds passed by unheeding the agonised animal's cries of distress, but a dog having contemplated for some time this scene of inhumanity, and barked his disapprobation, rushed forward, furiously drove one by one the little wretches from the spot, and rescuing the fainting and bleeding animal from the deep ditch, bore it off to his quarters. He then placed it on the straw, licked it all over, and laid down by it; and after this he brought it provision, and the people of the house, inspired by his example, gave it warm milk. Day after day did the dog tend the sick object of his care till it was recovered; and for many years after they were to be seen at the Talbot Inn, Liverpool.

 -- from George R. Jesse, Researches into the History of the British Dog, With Original Anecdotes, and Illustrations of the Nature and Attributes of the Dog, From the Poets and Prose Writers of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Times (London: Robert Hardwick, 1866) pp. 122-3.

a franz marc white on white

thanks wikipaintings.org.  public domain

Winter:  it's definitely here and with the holidays past nothing much is around to distract us from that.  For these two intent seekers, that's just as well; winter is clearly their element, and they are doing what they're made to do.  These are "Siberian Sheepdogs," painted circa 1910 by the German Expressionist Franz Marc, one of The Blue Rider's founders, and a painter I always particularly enjoy.  In the few years following this piece, his work became increasingly Cubist and was created according to his own color symbolism, but animals and their innate natures remained his main themes.  He died in 1916 during WWI.  A scant 20 years later the Nazis were removing his work from gallery walls as "degenerate art," which goes to show you how much institutionalized evil fears an honest, deep perception.  Even when - or perhaps because - it regards animals.

black cat profile: by artist donna mckenzie

Image copyright by and with kindest permission of donna mckenzie

Black cats:  as I am now reminded daily thanks to Veronica, they are lovely all by themselves.  This sensitive, simple image comes to you from North Carolina artist Donna McKenzie.  You can find more of her work on Etsy at the shop corelladesign.  She also often creates with a playful approach, as you'll see in "Owls Love Hats," for example.  The thin, winding lines she prefers using make for an extra winsomeness in the characters, as if you could almost see them breathing.  

angry cat is angry...but useful

image copyright of and by kindest courtesy of funkychicdesigns

Look.  I own Elizabeth.  Or maybe the other way around. Anyway.  You try that situation on for size and then tell me you don't find this clutch hilarious.  The eyes have it...and they're burning holes in me!  You can find this and many other Angry Cat treats at Katie Jaye's Etsy store, FunkyChicDesigns.  

new year, new vintage photo time

ampersand strikes again 

New year equals new opportunities and hopefully new friends - like the two here.  I don't know when in the year this was taken, but it's pleasant at this dank post-holiday time to see fresh starts.  Speaking of which, I'm glad that carpet obviously wasn't new.

the artist's wife - and dog

thanks wikimedia commons. public domain via the yorck project.

Anthonis Mor (1517 - 1577) originated from the Netherlands, but his life and career took him a great many places: Portugal, England, Spain.  He painted portraits of many of Europe's highest and greatest people; I was surprised to realize it was his hand that created the one best known portrait of Mary I of England.  That same portrait won him a place in King Philip of Spain's court, which he left in 1561.  Here's confidence for you:  after that year Philip wrote him numerous times asking Mor to return, but he wouldn't.  You can see that something of that groundedness in his portraits: serious faces, muscles and sinews tense with the weight of the world, a weight that seems even to cast shadows over his palette.  

So what am I to make of this 1554 portrait of a woman, said to be Mor's wife Metgen?  It's not a great reproduction, but I can still see that her hands are strong and her expression guarded.  You'd probably be on your guard too if your husband spent time one on one with the people who make or break the fate of nations.  Her dog seems to be showing all the concern she's hiding, but then again, that looks like a toy spaniel and spaniels look worried at the drop of a hat.  I like the way her fingers have spread out over the dog's tiny flank, as if to give it shelter.

Have a look at the Wikipedia page on Mor to see how much he accomplished.  

reflections on st. francis and others

. . . The life of the Saint of Assisi was so beautiful a poem in itself, his soul was so lightsome with Divine light, that it is hard to select one jewel from amid such profusion; but surely his love for the brute creation was so remarkable that he stands at the head of the long list of saints who have protected and cared for the dumb creatures that are at the mercy of men.

The holy ones of earth have always shown this tenderness. St. Anthony preached to the fishes. . .St. John the Divine cared for a pet partridge; St. Anselm protected a little hunted hare from the sportsman's fury; St. Aventin out of pity put back into the water some fish which had been brought to him. Many other good hermits made friends of the birds. St. Waltheof would do penance for killing an insect; St. Philip Neri reproved a man for treading upon a lizzard (sic - curator); St. Bernard loved to free birds from the traps set for them; St. Francis de Sales wept with joy to see some doves share a meal with sparrows; and monastic institutions everywhere have always been a refuge for lost and homeless animals.
And so St. Francis of Assisi was not alone in caring for the humbler creatures of God. His gentleness toward them was something wonderful, and so great was his dread of hurting the helpless that he is said to have hesitated before placing his foot upon a stone! And those who love him and would be like him. even by walking in the tortuous and troubled ways in which all saints must tread, may do his work on earth. And a good way to set about it is to refrain from ill treating a dumb beast.
This is the simple and touching way in which he talked to the birds: "My little sisters, the birds, you owe much to God, your Creator, and ought to sing His praise at all times. . . . Beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to praise the Lord."
     —Rev. Daniel E. Hudson, C. S. C, the Ave Maria Notre Dame, Indiana.
* * *
Though I know the stories of St. Francis and have loved many paintings of his Sermon to the Birds, most of these other saints' tales were brand new to me.  I would love to look into them.  I found this tidbit in a goldmine of a periodical called Our Dumb Animals, published by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, volume 22 no. 4 (September  1889), p. 106.  And I LOVE the spelling "lizzard."