cats heart yarn

thanks wikimedia commons {PD-old-100}

Does that kitty face remind you of anyone? It's a close twin to the face that's been variously chewing on, yowling at, or smooching up to me this morning:  a Kat Von D of 1903.  Here is "Sitzendes Mädchen mit einer Katze" (Sitting Girl with a Cat), a watercolor by Albert Anker, the most popular genre painter of 19th-century Switzerland.

Having identified him as a genre painter, I want to be sure I give Anker (1831-1910) his full due.  It's true that he chose to paint calm daily scenes of uplifting feel, a choice made early on and backed by his youthful studies in theology.  He clearly geared his vision toward the best life could offer the general populace.  Yet he was well trained as an artist in all that Europe could provide in his time, with regular visits to Paris and occasional journeys elsewhere.  This is a person who not only kept himself well-informed on his craft and its culture, but used that knowledge so lightly and surely that he is still a favorite son among Swiss artists today.