Now, this might be a paid ad for the museum running the exhibition. But even if it is, the article is informative by itself.
More than 500 years ago, after dedicating hours to the meticulous transcription of a crucial manuscript, a Flemish scribe set the parchment out to dry—only to later return and discover the page smeared, filled with inky paw prints.
I hope the scribe didn't punish the poor kitty.
“Objects like [the manuscript] have a way of bridging across time, as it’s just so relatable for anyone who has ever had a cat,” Lynley Anne Herbert, the museum’s curator of rare books and manuscripts, tells Artnet’s Margaret Carrigan. “Many medieval people loved their cats just as much as we do.”
The common perception is that Europeans, back then, hated and/or feared cats, believing them to be agents of the devil (which, to be honest, I can kind of understand). And I've heard they were blamed for the Plague, or at least one of the Plagues, therefore killed en masse, thus eliminating a check on the rodent population, in turn enabling the spread of the flea with the plague germs.
I can hear someone from that time right now if I tried to explain that to them: "But still, it's cats."
Anyway, point is, I'm sure that then, as now, there were people who liked and appreciated cats. Though maybe liked them a little less when they left paw prints on your manuscript.
This affection is evidenced by the myriad illustrations of cats across cultures. After finding the Flemish manuscript, Herbert searched the museum archives and found no shortage of other feline mentions or depictions in Islamic, Asian and other European texts and images.
Also, apparently, they're not limiting it to Europe.
And a 15th-century painting called Madonna and Child With a Cat features a small kitten beside the newborn baby Jesus. The depiction is likely a reference to the lesser-told Christian legend that a cat gave birth to a litter of kittens inside the manger at the same time that Mary gave birth to Jesus, according to the museum.
And yet, to the best of my knowledge, no one worships those kittens or their mother. It's just not fair.
“Paws on Parchment” is the first of three exhibitions over the next two years dedicated to animals in art. Its displays have already made an impression on viewers, human and feline alike. Shortly after its grand opening, in partnership with the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, of four 6-week-old foster kittens were given a private tour. Herbert adopted two of them.
Hopefully they won't do that with the elephant exhibit.
Anyway, not much to the article which, as I say, may very well be an ad. But it has pictures. Including pictures of the 6-week-old foster kittens from that last quote.
I'll just end with this: a while back, I had to get part of my basement slab redone. They poured new concrete and, as the concrete was curing, my cat at the time decided to walk in it.
He did not like having his paws washed afterward, but I never did anything about the prints in the concrete. So the next owner of this house is going to get a nice surprise.
