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The iconic poster that was described in the article

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The iconic poster that was described in the article

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Inspiration/References for the cats and the funky suits I will be drawing them in.

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Inspiration/References for the cats and the funky suits I will be drawing them in.

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Inspiration for what I want the background/scenery of this piece

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Inspiration for what I want the background/scenery of this piece

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I believe this is a modern photo of what Le Chat Noir currently looks like. But I've also heard they expanded the franchise and made a restaurant, Le Chat Noir Restaurant, so this image could be from there.

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Photo taken in Le Chat Noir around when it first opened

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For this piece I want to paint something symbolic of the oldest and what is considered to be the first modern cabaret, Le Chat Noir. A nightclub that is well known for their poster of a "proud-standing" black cat. For the piece itself I'm thinking of drawing a cat in a suit dining at this club similar to how the patrons would drink and dine.

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"Théophile Alexandre Steinlen - Le Chat Noir

The 19th century Paris, in particular the bohemian Montmartre district, was proud of a famous entertainment establishment called Le Chat Noir, aka The Black Cat. Now considered to be the first modern cabaret, it was a proper a nightclub where the patrons sat at tables and drank alcoholic beverages while being entertained by a variety show on stage. Perhaps even more famous than the club itself was the poster of a proud-standing black cat created by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, which promoted a tour of the cabaret entertainment troupes to other cities at the peak of its popularity and was later used in the humorous journal that the cabaret published until 1895. Le Chat Noir is now an iconic cat art picture of retro culture."

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The Phenomenon of Cat Art and the Craze it Provokes | Widewalls

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Who were the famous artists depicting cats in art throughout history? Why is cat art so fascinating? Will we ever get over kittens in artworks?

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I wanted to try incorporating my style into this piece more. While I like how it turned out I still see lots of room for improvement when it comes to my watercolor technique, I really struggle to not make it patchy. I also want to play around more with colored pencils.

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I forgot to take a photo of my actual thumbnail sketch before starting so this will have to do.

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For my SI piece #8, I want to create something that highlights where human relation to cats start. Many people believe it began with the Egyptians but our relationship with those feline creatures date back much further. I'm thinking of drawing a cat and person dying next to one another with different plants growing around them.

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What does the burial of a human and cat imply?

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What does the burial of a human and cat imply?

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"The complete body of the animal was buried in a small pit at about twenty centimeters from the human grave. The tomb, particularly rich in offerings in comparison to other graves known from this period in Cyprus, suggests that the individual had a special social status. Τhis grave certainly bears witness to relationships between humans and cats in the 8th millennium B.C., not restricted to the material benefit of humans but also involved in spiritual links."

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Neolithic Cat Burial in Cyprus: The oldest known evidence of taming of cats!

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Neolithic Cat Burial in Cyprus: The oldest known evidence of taming of cats!

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The bones of a cat were found near human bones in a grave uncovered in Cyprus , dating from 7,500 to 7,000 years B.C., during excavations carried out under the supervision of Jean Guilaine of the Collège de France. Jean-Denis Vigne, CNRS research director, showed that this was the oldest known

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" The oldest known evidence comes from Cyprus in the form of a grave where a human and a cat were buried together 9500 years ago. Since cats are not native to Cyprus, the human population must have brought them to the island when they migrated there. The burial site is part of the neolithic Shillourokambos site, and predates Egyptian depictions of cats by about 4000 years."

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The History of Cats in Human Civilization

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Throughout history, a select few animals have managed to enter our hearts, including cats. Let’s look at the history of cats in human civilization.

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Very rough thumbnail sketch, SI piece #6

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Very rough thumbnail sketch, SI piece #6

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The third and fourth pieces I made for my sustained investigation go hand in hand in showing some of the differences in how cats and women were treated throughout history. One of the main reasons cats are often associated with women is because of the goddess Bastet who was part woman/part feline. While they worshiped her and cats in Egypt, this association made its way to Europe where it ended up being looked down upon as many European Christians associated cats with Satanic Rituals. While I’ve experimented with watercolor and colored pencil on their own I’ve never tried using them both on the same piece. For both my 3rd and 4th piece I experimented with these two different medias and different ways to layer the colors. I also wanted to experiment with different color pallets to try and get across different atmospheres. I’m excited to experiment more and learn how to better compliment with these two medias in the future.

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I think for my SI piece #6, I want to take aspects from traditional Chinese art and create a piece depicting a brief moment of individual peace in a cats life. I also think I could expand this idea for my 7th piece by creating a piece depicting the more fierce and resistant side of cats that humans admire.

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I think for my SI piece #6, I want to take aspects from traditional Chinese art and create a piece depicting a brief moment of individual peace in a cats life. I also think I could expand this idea for my 7th piece by creating a piece depicting the more fierce and resistant side of cats that humans admire.

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In Asia, specifically China, people admired cats for the individuality and their resistance towards control from above. 

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In Asia, specifically China, people admired cats for the individuality and their resistance towards control from above. 

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“Most people will never have the courage to treat their bosses the way a cat treats its owner, but they find comfort in the prospect. In essence, cats aren’t our masters; they’re our shields. They protect us, aiding us as we separate, mediate, and resist the anxieties and oppressiveness of everyday life.”

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It's 2021, and China is on the verge of being conquered by a race of seemingly innocuous, but actually hyper-intelligent, imperious overlords.

That's not the plot of some B-movie thriller. It's barely an exaggeration. According to the 2020 Chinese Pet Industry White Paper, China's pet cat population rose by a staggering 10.2% last year to almost 49 million. If current trends continue, cats will overtake dogs to become the country's most popular pet in the next year or two.

If anything, those numbers undersell cats' cultural hegemony. For starters, cats have long been the top dog of the online pet world, where they bask in the adulation of self-proclaimed "cat slaves" and "cat sniffers." Even many non-cat owners have embraced the practice of raising cats "in the cloud" - where those without cats obsessively follow cat owners on social media, as if the animal being posted about really belonged to them.

Especially curious is how obsequious these cat lovers are toward their feline overlords. They refer to their cats as "Your Majesty" and to themselves as mere "poop-scooping attendants." One cat-crazy friend of mine likes to joke about creating a "Church of the Virtuous Scooper" based on two fundamental tenets: 1) It is an irrefutable truth that cats are perfect; and 2) The proper relationship between cats and their poop scoopers is that since cats can do no wrong, any errors must lie with you.

Needless to say, any suggestion that China's cult of the cat has gone overboard brings the claws out.

How did cats win all this love and adoration? I may be biased toward an academic explanation, but as an anthropologist, I would argue that cats have three layers of appeal, each with the ability to encourage high levels of self-involvement and anthropomorphic identification among humans.

The first of these layers directly relates to how cats look. With their large foreheads, round heads, wide eyes, low nasal bridges, and soft bodies, cats fit what anthropologists term the "baby schema" - an idea that certain infantile features spark people's innate emotional and caretaking desires. In what some researchers call the "cute response," these features trigger a dopamine release in the brain, producing a warm, happy feeling. It's worth mentioning that while the vast majority of mammals, including humans, have these baby schema features in infancy, cats are among the minority of animals whose features stay constant through the years, heightening their visual appeal to humans.

The owner of a Taobao shop selling "hanfu" gowns for cats pets one of her models in Changsha, Hunan province, Aug. 13, 2020. Noel Celis/People Visual

The second layer has to do with the fact that humans have never fully domesticated cats, something distinguishing them from another popular pet choice, dogs. You can own a dog, but you'll only ever be a companion to a cat. Dogs are fervent but frail, their puppy eyes attesting to their longing for love and affection. Cats, meanwhile, remain mercurial and unreadable.

It's precisely because of this inscrutable quality, however, that cats offer a perfect canvas for human emotion. The unreadability of their expressions and body language leaves more room for us to project our interpretations onto them. We read cats through the lens of our own subjective emotions, project our own feelings onto them, and as a result, come to think of cats as kindred spirits.

Indeed, many Chinese cat lovers emphasize how cats are like people, though I would say it's the opposite: Modern people are like cats in the way they pursue individuality and reject control from above.

If we take this thinking one step further, we come to the third main appeal of cats: their "heroic" side.

One of the more interesting aspects of contemporary cat fandom is that, when many modern cat lovers compare themselves to cats, they get the worst of the exchange. That's because cats seem to lead a far more self-actualized life than their supposed masters. They can go from purring at your touch one second to swatting you away the next. Dangerous and affectionate in equal measure, they keep us company but remain indecipherable. Likewise, visual depictions of cats online always highlight their mysteriousness, haughtiness, and sheer unfathomability.

Underlying all this is the deeper reason for the adoration cats enjoy today: the emotional struggles of contemporary life, especially those of young city dwellers. Increasingly jaded in the face of the harsh realities of their existence, like declining social mobility, a solidifying social class structure, and ineffective traditional social networks, young Chinese are under ubiquitous and relentless pressure, whether in housing, education, social security, health insurance, or employment.

From an anthropological perspective, even when times aren't tough, people need heroes in their everyday lives to serve as role models and provide meaning to their lives. People worship their cats as "masters" and deride themselves as "poop butlers," in large part because cats embody an ideal self that cat lovers want to be. As one young woman told me during an interview I conducted for a study about raising cats on the cloud, "I want to be like a cat, to go where I want to go. I wouldn't have to accommodate other people. I'll just give out kisses when I want to and cold-shoulder them when I don't."

In other words, having a cat - whether in real life or online - is a way for people to present and resolve their emotional turmoil. Most people will never have the courage to treat their bosses the way a cat treats its owner, but they find comfort in the prospect. In essence, cats aren't our masters; they're our shields. They protect us, aiding us as we separate, mediate, and resist the anxieties and oppressiveness of everyday life.
Translator: Katherine Tse; editors: Wu Haiyun and Kilian O'Donnell; portrait artist: Wang Zhenhao.
(Header image: Shijue Select/People Visual)

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It's 2021, and China is on the verge of being conquered by a race of seemingly innocuous, but actually hyper-intelligent, imperious overlords. That's not the plot of some B-movie thriller. It's barely an exaggeration. According to the 2020 Chinese Pet Industry White Paper, China's pet cat population rose by a staggering 10.2% last year to almost 49 million.

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“Admired for their lion-like stalking skills (and subsequent contributions to pest control), domesticated cats have been kept as pets in China for thousands of years. Thus, in most Chinese art, they are typically shown doing what house cats do best: hunting small animals, exploring their surroundings, or curling up for a cat nap.”

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In the age of the Internet, no animal has captivated audiences quite like the humble house cat. Whether captured in a playful photo or immortalized through a quirky video, these portrayals have proven the animal's modern-day prowess. The popularity of cat pictures, however, did not start with social media; in fact, such images have been an artistic staple since ancient times.

From age-old paintings to more modern graphic design, cats have been stealing the show for centuries. Here, we explore the cat's role in art history, paying particular attention to the genres and movements that appear to have especially favored feline subjects.

Ancient Egyptian Tomb Art

Throughout the course of art history, no group has portrayed felines as favorably as the ancient Egyptians. In awe of cats' companionship, poise, and hunting abilities, Egyptians viewed the animals as sacred, depicting gods and goddesses in their likeness and regularly incorporating them into their relief carvings, papyrus paintings, and, most notably, tomb decoration.

Drawings and engravings of powerful cats were often featured on both ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and the walls that surround them. In addition to adorning tombs housing human remains, these depictions are also fittingly found within felines' burial sites. Viewed as family members, pet cats were mourned, mummified, and buried so that they, too, could pass into the afterlife.

Chinese Paintings

Admired for their lion-like stalking skills (and subsequent contributions to pest control), domesticated cats have been kept as pets in China for thousands of years. Thus, in most Chinese art, they are typically shown doing what house cats do best: hunting small animals, exploring their surroundings, or curling up for a cat nap.

Given the slinkiness of their silhouettes and the rounded contours of their bodies, they remain favored subjects among Chinese painters and calligraphy artists.

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Cats in Art: How Our Feline Friends Have Inspired Artists for Centuries

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In the age of the Internet, no animal has captivated audiences quite like the humble house cat. Whether captured in a playful photo or immortalized through a quirky video, these portrayals have proven the animal's modern-day prowess. The popularity of cat pictures, however, did not start with social media; in fact, such images have been an artistic staple since ancient times.

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“However, with the advent of the 16th Century Witch Craze, cats fell out of favour and became connected with the antithesis of religion; as pagan symbol, associated with sorcery, magic and witches. Cats were feared and thought to indicate the presence of evil, either being the Devil himself, or a witch in disguise.”

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“However, with the advent of the 16th Century Witch Craze, cats fell out of favour and became connected with the antithesis of religion; as pagan symbol, associated with sorcery, magic and witches. Cats were feared and thought to indicate the presence of evil, either being the Devil himself, or a witch in disguise.”

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Black cats and witches go hand in paw in popular culture but the origins of the witches' familiar aren't so black and white. Where did the connection between witches and cats stem from, why did it begin, and how did it perpetuate? Cats were not maligned in ancient times; we all know the Egyptians worshiped them so what happened? This post explores the shift in popularity that took place in sixteenth-century Britain and looks at some of the strange beliefs associated with cats during the witch trials of this century and the next.

New York: 1970 CBS television actress Drinda La Lumia gets into the spirit of Halloween

Cats - From the monk's companion, to the Devil himself.

In Europe in the Middle Ages, cats were kept to protect grain stores by keeping the rodent population down. They were so highly valued for their rat- catching skills that an adult cat would fetch the same price as a full-grown sheep, goat or untrained house dog. A kitten was deemed the same value as a piglet or lamb.

Cats were also the only animals to be allowed in monasteries for the same purpose. Religious manuscripts often feature cats chasing or eating mice and it's likely cats were considered welcome companions for the monks.
Religious manuscript Cat and Mouse from the Luttrell Psalter (British Library)

However, with the advent of the 16thCentury Witch Craze, cats fell out of favour and became connected with the antithesis of religion; as pagan symbol, associated with sorcery, magic and witches. Cats were feared and thought to indicate the presence of evil, either being the Devil himself, or a witch in disguise.

The first allusion to a cat having nine lives appeared in a book called Beware of the Cat in 1584, where nine was the number of times a witch could take on feline shape. It was even believed that witches had a third nipple reserved especially for suckling their evil cat companion.
Witches and their familiars Sathan and the famous witch trial of 1566

The first widely documented witchcraft trial was that of Elizabeth Francis, Agnes Waterhouse and her daughter, Joan. It was said that Elizabeth's Grandmother had given her a cat named Sathan (a vague allusion to Satan) whom Elizabeth carried around in a basket; fed on bread, milk and her own blood whilst practising the black arts. Apparently Sathan was responsible for the death of Andrew Byles who had made Elizabeth pregnant but refused to marry her. Fifteen years later, Sathan was passed on to Elizabeth's sister, Agnes Waterhouse, whereupon he apparently continued his evil bidding, causing the death of many geese and cows in the area.

There were numerous trials involving Elizabeth Francis and her family, with Sathan always featuring as the scapegoat for various misfortunes and deaths within their township and the local area and sensationalised stories of witches spread throughout Britain, further damaging feline reputations.

It played out very differently for each of these women accused. Elizabeth's detailed accounts and confessions in the trials ended up saving her from persecution. She instead becomes an authority on the subject and even served as a court recognised witch-hunter! Her sister Agnes, was not so lucky and was executed in July 1566 - her daughter Joan was acquitted.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE Sources: "The Secret Lore of the Cat" by Fred Gettings, "The Cult of the Cat" Nicholas J Sanders, "Cat Sense" John Bradshaw, "The British Museum Book of Cats" Juliet Clutton-Brock.
Isn't it lucky we can openly celebrate black cats this Halloween without fear of execution!

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Cats, Symbolism and the 16th Century Witch Craze

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Black cats and witches go hand in paw in popular culture but the origins of the witches' familiar aren't so black and white. Where did the connection between witches and cats stem from, why did it begin, and how did it perpetuate?

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Cats were often associated with witchcraft which was usually pinned against women in medieval Europe

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Cats were often associated with witchcraft which was usually pinned against women in medieval Europe

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Cats are one of the only animals that have a starring role in Halloween celebrations. After all, no spooky party would be complete without feline-themed decorations and at least one guest adorning cat ears and whiskers for the night.

The popularity of cats at Halloween has everything to do with their association with witches, but how did this begin? We explore this interesting pairing in more detail.

Black cats and the Middle Ages

We all know that cats were once worshipped like gods, but over the years their reputation was tarnished. In the middle of the 14th Century, black cats became linked with the devil, so many of them were killed during the Black Death pandemic. This proved to be a very bad mistake to make though, as the cats would have helped take out a lot of the rats that spread the plague. If greater numbers had been around, it's likely that more people would have survived the plague.

The church vs the witches

The term witchcraft may have negative connotations now, but it actually means 'craft of the wise', as the word 'Wicca' was derived from 'wicce', or 'wise'. Whilst witches claimed to be able to perform magic, they also brewed potions and were known for healing the sick. The Christian Church did not like the fact that people were asking witches to solve their problems, and so spread propaganda that their magical powers stemmed from the devil.

Most of 16th Century Europe began to believe witches were evil, and many were trialled, tortured and sentenced to death. Since witches were at one with nature, it was common for them to have a cat as a companion. Plus, the Celts believed that cats were actually humans who had been forced to return to this world after committing bad deeds. Such theories led to people making up stories of witches turning into cats.

'Witnesses' to these transformations claimed that witches would sneak into people's houses at night to harm them. Some witches even confessed to this crime, presumably because the torture they endured forced them to. Thus, the cat became more than just a witches' pet; it was her familiar.

Sadly, this meant that cats got tied up with the witch trials and often faced the same fate as their owners.

Are black cats still a good luck charm?

It's not all bad news for the black cat; they are still seen as a good luck charm in many countries, particularly those not affected by the witch trials, such as Japan and Russia. In fact, the Japanese believe it's important for single women to have a feline friend, as they are thought to attract handsome suitors. A black cat appearing on your doorstep mysteriously is a good omen in Scotland, too.

Modern-day witches, or white witches as they call themselves, still keep cats as pets, and who can blame them? They are rather lucky when it comes to avoiding danger, perhaps thanks to their heightened senses - no wonder everyone says they have nine lives.

Plus, cats make wonderful companions. It's hard to imagine that anyone ever considered these beautiful animals to be evil - in this day and age animal welfare is so important, which is why we provide cat insurance policies to help protect our feline friends and support animal charities around the world.

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Cats are one of the only animals that have a starring role in Halloween celebrations. After all, no spooky party would be complete without feline-themed decorations and at least one guest adorning cat ears and whiskers for the night. The popularity of cats at Halloween has everything to do with their association with witches, but how did this begin?

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Week 15 progress, I’ve started adding watercolor and I plan to layer with colored pencil 

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Week 15 progress, I’ve started adding watercolor and I plan to layer with colored pencil 

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I want to incorporate aspects of Egyptian nature into my piece, the Egyptian Lotus is supposedly super common in Egypt and is used to represent creation and rebirth. I think this is fitting to incorporate for my piece as women are mostly responsible for the creation of all humans/anything existing. I also want to incorporate a Lion into my piece, I’m inspired by an artist Audra Auclair that has a painting of a Lion with multiple eyes which I think would be a cool idea to play around with. We shall see though…

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“The goddess Bastet, one of the most popular in all of Egypt, was a protector of women, of the home, and of women's secrets. Egyptian religion honored and elevated the feminine, and so it is hardly surprising that women were important members of the clergy and temple life.“

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“The goddess Bastet, one of the most popular in all of Egypt, was a protector of women, of the home, and of women's secrets. Egyptian religion honored and elevated the feminine, and so it is hardly surprising that women were important members of the clergy and temple life.“

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I think it would be fun to have my next two pieces highlight the differences in treatment based on those societies perception of women. Piece 3 will be inspired based off the Egyptian perception of felines and femmes and piece 4 will be inspired off of European perception. I also really like the idea of possibly making a sorta lenticular model of the two finished pieces, my only concern would be not executing it properly.

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I think it’s really interesting how cats were treated differently in different cultures based on those cultures perception of women. In Egypt, women were associated with prosperity and good things whereas in Europe they were viewed as less than and this outlook on women is evident in their treatment of cats. I would like to create a piece that emphasizes the different treatments in different cultures.

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“The cat in ancient Egypt was closely linked to the goddess Bastet who presided over the hearth, home, women, and women's secrets. Bastet was one of the most popular deities of Egypt because she promised peace and prosperity to her adherents of both sexes. Every man had a mother or sister, a wife or daughter they cared for and wanted kept safe while also desiring a tranquil and prosperous home and this was what Bastet delivered.”

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“The cat in ancient Egypt was closely linked to the goddess Bastet who presided over the hearth, home, women, and women's secrets. Bastet was one of the most popular deities of Egypt because she promised peace and prosperity to her adherents of both sexes. Every man had a mother or sister, a wife or daughter they cared for and wanted kept safe while also desiring a tranquil and prosperous home and this was what Bastet delivered.”

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Cats in the Middle Ages were generally disapproved of, regarded as, at best, useful pests and, at worst, agents of Satan, owing to the medieval Church and its association of the cat with evil. Prior to the widespread acceptance of Christianity, however, cats were considered valuable members of society and were even worshipped in some cultures.

The life of a cat in the Middle Ages (c. 476-1500) differed significantly from that of a dog owing primarily to its association with witchcraft, darkness, and the devil. In the ancient world, the cat was regarded highly by cultures as diverse as China, Egypt, and Rome but, by the 13th century in Europe, it had long lost its former status and was generally tolerated for its practical use in curbing vermin but not often valued as a pet.

The cat lost its former position through the efforts of the medieval Church which encouraged the association of the cat with devils and darkness as part of their long-standing agenda of demonizing pagan faiths, rituals, and values. Scholar Desmond Morris writes:

Religious bigots have often employed the cunning device of converting other people's heroes into villains to suit their own purposes. In this way, the ancient horned god that protected earlier cultures was first transformed into the evil Devil of Christianity and the revered sacred feline of ancient Egypt became the wicked sorcerer's cat of medieval Europe. Many things considered holy by a previous religious faith have automatically been damned by a new religion. In this way began the darkest chapter in the cat's long association with mankind. For centuries it was persecuted and the cruelties heaped upon it were given the full backing of the Church. (158)

Once the cat was associated with Satan, it was regularly tortured and killed either to ward off bad luck, as a sign of devotion to Christ, or an integral part of rituals involving ailuromancy (using cats to predict the future). Cats were condemned by popes and massacred by entire villages and would not regain even half their former status until the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. The Victorian Age of the 19th century would see the cat's full restoration in status.

The association of the cat with ancient Egypt is well known. Cats were so highly valued that, according to Herodotus, when an Egyptian house caught fire, the people first concerned themselves with rescuing their cats and only then thought to put the fire out. When a family cat died, the people of the home observed the same grief-rituals as those for a human family member and cats were routinely mummified in the finest linens.

The cat in ancient Egypt was closely linked to the goddess Bastet who presided over the hearth, home, women, and women's secrets. Bastet was one of the most popular deities of Egypt because she promised peace and prosperity to her adherents of both sexes. Every man had a mother or sister, a wife or daughter they cared for and wanted kept safe while also desiring a tranquil and prosperous home and this was what Bastet delivered.

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Every year, Egyptians by the thousands traveled to her sacred city of Bubastis for her festival and she and her cats were valued so highly that, in 525 BCE, the Egyptian army at Pelusium surrendered to the Persians who had painted Bastet's image on their shields and herded cats and other animals in front of them before the city's walls. The Egyptians considered surrender preferable to harming the cats.

The Egyptians forbade the export of cats - the penalty for taking a cat out of the country was death.

In Greece and Rome, the cat never attained the same divine status but was still valued. The Greeks recognized the cat's value in pest control and also kept it as a pet while the Romans, who preferred using weasels to rid themselves of mice and rats, concentrated their efforts on pampering their feline friends. Cats enjoyed life in ancient Rome almost as much as they did in Egypt as Latin authors and Roman graves depicting grief-stricken cat owners attest.

The Egyptians forbade the export of cats - the penalty for taking a cat out of the country was death - and instituted a task force at their ports which searched disembarking ships to make sure no cat had been smuggled aboard. Clever crews and captains must have found some way around this law, however, as the cat wound up transported from Egypt to Greece, Rome, and Northern Europe. The sailors most likely responsible for this were the Phoenicians, the master sea-farers and most important traders of the ancient world, who quite possibly also spread the association of the cat with witchcraft and the underworld.

Cats, Women, & Jews

The Phoenicians, traveling from country to country, transported a culture's myths and legends along with their goods. The Greek goddess Hecate (and her Roman counterpart Trivia), presided over death, darkness, magic/witchcraft, and ghosts. Hecate was closely associated with dogs who, legend said, could hear her approach and would howl; a dog which appeared to be barking at nothing was said to actually be warning a family of Hecate and her ghosts at the door.

One very popular myth, however, linked Hecate with cats and this was the tale of the great Greek hero Heracles (the Roman Hercules). Heracles is conceived when the god Zeus seduces the mortal princess Alcmene. Hera, Zeus' jealous wife, attempts to kill Alcmene but a woman named Galinthius, maid-servant to Alcmene, thwarts Hera's plan and saves her mistress and the future hero. Enraged, Hera punishes Galinthius by transforming her into a cat and sending her to the underworld to serve Hecate.

The Heracles myth was among the most popular in ancient times and was given a greater boost by the Latin writer Antoninus Liberalis (2nd century CE) in his Metamorphosis, a retelling of older legends and tales, which was copied and distributed from its first publication up through the 9th century and continued as a best-seller through the 16th century.

Even though the majority of the population of medieval Europe were illiterate, this would not have mattered since stories were commonly transmitted orally. This story associating the cat with darkness, witchcraft, and the underworld, coupled with the Church's efforts at demonizing the values of earlier faiths, would have gone far to condemning the cat to a sub-par existence.

Further contributing to the cat's poor reputation was its association with the feminine, carried over from Egypt, and the poor light in which women in the early Middle Ages were viewed. Prior to the popularization of The Cult of the Virgin Mary in the High Middle Ages (1000-1300), coupled with the French romantic tradition courtly love which elevated women's status, women were closely associated with Eve and the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Women were considered innately sinful, lusty, and responsible for man's first fall as well as whatever struggles each individual man after Adam had to endure.

The mythology of the Bible, taken as divine truth, also vilified the Jews as Christ-Killers and during the entire length of the Middle Ages in Europe Jews were linked to the cat as well. Jews were said to worship the cat, were able to transform themselves into cats to sneak into Christian homes to practice mischief or cast spells, and were also believed to crucify cats as a mockery of Christ's death on the cross. To the patriarchal culture of the Middle Ages, then, the cat was easily the vilest creature to creep across the earth.

Cats as Diviners & a Pope's Decree

At the same time, however, medieval Christians found the cat useful for pest control and as a means to supernatural insight. Rats and mice and other vermin, it was observed, were nicely controlled by a cat or two in the house and merchants and ships' crews considered them beneficial as well in protecting grain shipments, or other cargo, in transport or storage.

The practice of ailuromancy, by which one could predict the future by observing a cat's movements, also made the cat a little more appreciated. For the most part, ailuromancy only involved watching a cat whose behavior was thought to be able to predict the weather, an unexpected guest at the door, and other such things. Ailuromancy took a decidedly nasty turn, however, in a ritual known as the taghairm, practiced in Scotland throughout the Middle Ages and up through the 16th century.

A person would take cat and roast it alive over an open flame, turning it on a spit. The cat would scream in agony and this would summon the devil to protect one of his own. The devil would plead with the person to end the cat's suffering but the person would hold out until the devil had promised to fulfil a certain request - often some prediction of the future - at which time the cat would be put out of its misery.

The cat was further linked with the demonic through the work of the writer Walter Map (c. 1140-1210) who claimed that the religious movement of the Patarines (who were seeking reforms in the Catholic Church), whom he closely associated with the heretical sect of the Cathars, worshiped the cat as part of their dark rites. Map reports how, those Christians who had fallen into sin and error in joining the Patarines but who had since returned to the true faith, gave this report of a ritual regularly observed:

At the first watch of the night, with their doors, entrances, and windows closed, the families sit in silence, each in their `synagogue', and wait. And in the middle of them comes, hanging by a rope, a black cat of great size. As soon as they see this cat, the lights are turned out. They do not sing or recite hymns in a distinct way but they mutter them with their teeth closed and they feel in the dark towards where they saw their lord and, when they find it, they kiss it, the more humbly depending on their folly, some on the paws, some under the tail, some on the genitals. (De Nugis Curialum, I.30)

Map's story - corroborated nowhere else and possibly satirical, actually - became so widespread and often repeated that it seems to have factored into the papal bull which condemned cats. Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241), in response to growing reports of heresy throughout Europe, sent the Inquisitor Konrad von Marburg (l. 1180-1233) to Germany to root out heretics by whatever means he felt necessary. Konrad sent the pope back a report of insidious rites enacted which sounds quite similar to Map's earlier account of the cat ritual only with the addition of a frog to the service.

Pope Gregory IX responded by issuing the bull in 1233 which denounced cats - especially black cats - as evil and in league with Satan. Konrad specifically accused the German noble Henry III, Count of Sayn (d. c. 1246) of participating in these rituals but Henry was able to clear his name before a tribunal and retain his position; Konrad wound up "mysteriously" murdered shortly afterwards. The account Konrad gave Pope Gregory IX could not be corroborated by any other Inquisitor or anyone else at all but the concept of the cat as demonic was further ingrained in public consciousness after 1233.

Again, as with the Galinthius-turned-cat tale cited earlier, it did not matter how many people could have - or even would have - been able to read Gregory's Vox in Rama; what mattered was the Church's stand on cats which would have been absorbed by people through Sunday sermons and simple conversation, filtering down from the higher levels of the Church to the congregations in cities and villages. The bull was hardly widespread to begin with, having only been issued to Henry III, and so its impact could only have been felt indirectly.

However the contents of Pope Gregory IX's bull came to public attention, it was bad news for cats and those who cared for them. Elderly women who kept cats were especially vulnerable to a charge of witchcraft as scholar Virginia C. Holmgren notes:

An old woman living alone with no kin to give aid often cherished a cat as a dear friend and only companion. Cat and crone were always together, the cat making play out of any work, especially the task of trying to sweep the dooryard with a scraggly twig-broom. Any villager hiding in the bushes to spy for proof of witchery might see the cat pounce on the twig bundle for a ride across the bumpy ground, and broom and cat be air-borne for a brief moment of contact with a hidden rock. At that very moment in a nearby castle another beloved cat might be taking the same playful ride on her lady's silken train as she crossed from window to mirror, with those close by smiling fondly. But there were smiles on the faces of those spying villagers as they raced home to report proof of witchcraft in action. (108-109)

It was a common punishment to tie a condemned witch in a sack with her cat & throw both into a river.

Holmgren's observation of the lady and cat in her castle is accurate as evident from the house records of Lady Eleanor of Montfort (also known as Eleanor of England, l. 1215-1275) who kept a cat for pest control but also seems to have cared for it as a pet. Lady Eleanor, powerful enough to control, maintain, and finally negotiate the surrender of Dover Castle, had nothing to fear from accusations of witchcraft but the same could not be said for the women of more modest means in the villages and cities. Of all those accused of witchcraft in Europe in the Middle Ages, 80% were women and the charge almost always ended in the woman's death. Although the most popular image is of an alleged witch burning at the stake, it was far more common to tie the condemned in a sack with her cat and throw both into a river.

The Return of the Cat

The outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in 1348 has often been blamed on a widespread massacre of cats following Pope Gregory IX's Vox in Rama but this theory is untenable as that was only one occurrence of the plague among many; the plague had been killing Europeans long before 1233. Even so, there seems no reason to argue that a decrease in the cat population, before and after the papal bull, would result in an increase in mice and rats and it has been established that there was such a decrease prior to 1348.

Even if that were not so, the incidents of plague from 1233-1348 could be traced to larger numbers of parasite-carrying rodents who were allowed to thrive in the absence of a large cat population. The people of the Middle Ages had no idea that the plague was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (this remained unknown until 1894) and accepted the Church's opinion that it was sent by God as a punishment for sin. Cats continued to be vilified and killed because people continued to view them through the lens of the Church as evil and worthless.

Desmond Morris cites the continued persecution of cats throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, noting how "as late as 1658 Edward Topsel, in his serious work on natural history, [wrote] `the familiars of Witches do most ordinarily appear in the shape of Cats which is an argument that this beast is dangerous to soul and body" (158). The cat would continue to be seen this way until the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century.

The Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) broke the power-hold of the Church over people's lives and allowed for greater freedom of thought. Although, as always, there were people like Edward Topsel who clung to earlier beliefs, people were now free to question the Church's views on life in general and cats in particular. The spirit of the Enlightenment encouraged people to keep cats as pets simply for the joy of companionship and this trend would become more commonplace during the Victorian Age (1837-1901) when Queen Victoria returned the cat to the status it had enjoyed in ancient Egypt.

When the Rosetta Stone was deciphered in c. 1822, it opened up Egyptian culture to the world. Previously, hieroglyphics were thought to be some arcane ornamentation but, once it was understood to be a language, Egyptian civilization came into sharper focus and drew worldwide attention. Stories of fantastic finds in ancient tombs made headlines in England and around the world and a number of these referenced Bastet and the Egyptian love of cats. Victoria's interest in Egypt led her to adopt two Blue Persians and she acquired a reputation as a breeder of show cats. As Victoria was a popular monarch, the press reported on her interests, and those interests came to be shared by others who now wanted to have cats of their own.

Victoria's efforts contributed to the cat resuming its ancient place in human society. Her love of cats was noted in America by the popular periodical Godey's Lady's Book, published by Louis A. Godey of Philadelphia between 1830-1878. In 1836, the writer Sarah Josepha Hale joined the Godey's editorial staff and began writing pieces extolling the virtues of the cat and the joys of cat ownership.

The popular author Mark Twain, among many others, added to the momentum writing and lecturing on the sublime joys of the cat-as-companion and so, by the end of the 19th century, the medieval concept of the cat as Satan's instrument had been replaced by that of the feline friend and treasured family member, so familiar to cat lovers in the present day as well as those of the ancient world.

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Cats in the Middle Ages were generally disapproved of, regarded as, at best, useful pests and, at worst, agents of Satan, owing to the medieval Church and its association of the cat with evil. Prior to the widespread acceptance of Christianity, however, cats were considered valuable members of society and were even worshipped in some cultures.

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“Women were considered innately sinful, lusty, and responsible for man's first fall as well as whatever struggles each individual man after Adam had to endure.”

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“Women were considered innately sinful, lusty, and responsible for man's first fall as well as whatever struggles each individual man after Adam had to endure.”

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“Further contributing to the cat's poor reputation was its association with the feminine, carried over from Egypt, and the poor light in which women in the early Middle Ages were viewed.”

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“Further contributing to the cat's poor reputation was its association with the feminine, carried over from Egypt, and the poor light in which women in the early Middle Ages were viewed.”

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I’m really happy with this piece, it was all very last minute and considering I haven’t worked on Adobe Photoshop since last year I’m very happy with the outcome. I decided to make a colored and b&w version because I couldn’t decide which one I liked more. Overall very happy with this piece and I’m happy with how it turned out :D

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I really like the cover to her album Traumazine and I want to use my (little) experience in Adobe Photoshop to create something that semi replicates this piece, especially in terms of the three heads and how they all depict different emotions.

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Meghan has been shamed for being outspoken and confident about who she is especially in regards to her sexuality while her male peers are praised for speaking openly about their sexuality. I really admire her and her work ethic and I really want to create a piece that resembles the cover to her album Traumazine. 

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Meghan has been shamed for being outspoken and confident about who she is especially in regards to her sexuality while her male peers are praised for speaking openly about their sexuality. I really admire her and her work ethic and I really want to create a piece that resembles the cover to her album Traumazine. 

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I really like the idea for this piece but I’m underwhelmed by the finished product, I liked the sketch more before I added a bunch of shading. For the future I want to be careful about over shading, I don’t like how it looks and I struggle to do it well (hopefully with practice I’ll get better). I’m gonna keep the piece as it is, but if I have time towards the end of the year (or maybe free time during any holiday breaks) I would like to give this piece another try. Maybe I’ll use a different medium instead of pencil.

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I decided to make the person a dog instead, I don’t like drawing people and I really like the idea of using dogs as symbolism for men and cats for symbolism for women

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I really like this sorta illustrative, sketch style and I'd like to implement that in my piece

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I really like this sorta illustrative, sketch style and I'd like to implement that in my piece

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Louis Wain - Gouache painting of three cats singing a Christmas Carole

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Louis Wain - Gouache painting of three cats singing a Christmas Carole

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Specializes in art that depicts some of the brutalities towards women in regards to their bodies, I want to create a piece that ties in the brutalities of cats to this piece

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Specializes in art that depicts some of the brutalities towards women in regards to their bodies, I want to create a piece that ties in the brutalities of cats to this piece

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Original Catfluencer: How a Victorian Artist’s Feline Fixation Gave Us the Internet Cat

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[caption id=“attachment_79604” align=“aligncenter” width=“400”] Louis Wain painted this cat in gouache sometime after he was committed to a mental asylum....

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"In Medieval times, Europeans blamed cats, thought to be witches’ familiars, for disease, infertility, drought, and crop failure, even though many farmers and merchants quietly let cats kill rodents. Felines were so reviled that live cats were frequently burned at Christian festivals. In England, squalling cats were set afire in a large wicker effigy at 17th-century celebration honoring an anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I’s rule." - This reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials, I'd like to create a piece that somewhat relate the two if possible.

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"In Medieval times, Europeans blamed cats, thought to be witches’ familiars, for disease, infertility, drought, and crop failure, even though many farmers and merchants quietly let cats kill rodents. Felines were so reviled that live cats were frequently burned at Christian festivals. In England, squalling cats were set afire in a large wicker effigy at 17th-century celebration honoring an anniversary of Queen Elizabeth I’s rule." - This reminds me of the Salem Witch Trials, I'd like to create a piece that somewhat relate the two if possible.

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Add Research to your SI Padlet (Oct 6, 2022 at 1_48 PM)

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The Amazing Art History of Cats in the World

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By Chelsea Reed Take a look around on the internet, and it's easy to see how cats have captured our hearts and imaginations.

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What is the historical significance of cats in art? What do they symbolize in different cultures and during different times? 

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What is the historical significance of cats in art? What do they symbolize in different cultures and during different times? 

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This piece was inspired by my cat Cheese Puff, I'm really happy with how it came out and I had a lot of fun playing around with watercolor. I think my technique has improved too. I'm excited to see my progression in water colors throughout the rest of the year.