delicate creatures, 1926

thanks wikimedia.org (PD)

Someday this young man will grow older, sadder, and wiser, become a Cistercian brother, and die in Cameroon among those he was called to serve.  In 1926 as Christopher Wood paints this oil portrait "Boy with Cat," Jean Bourgoint is still a young man in his very early 20's, a friend of artist Jean Cocteau.  He is lithe and blue-eyed, like the Siamese on his lap. No one knew then that Jean Bourgoint would ever be much other than beautiful; it's a marvelous but unmistakable pairing on Wood's part to put these two graceful animals together.  Here's a great deal more about this portrait from the University of Cambridge.