One of my favorite sub-genres of art is Cats Stealing Food in Still Life Paintings. It’s so wonderfully disrespectful. So here is a thread celebrating the need for snacks triumphing over art. First, Still Life with Cat. Alexandre-Francois Desportes, 1705. https://t.co/pvPWJOYuZj pic.twitter.com/dGtRqaB62V
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Some curious cats need to know what you’re having for dinner. They jump onto the table when you're not looking and try to steal a bit of whatever you’ve got on your plate. Although this might seem like it only happens in modern times, one Twitter account called Cats of Yore points out that felines have always been mischievous. For proof, just look at art history.
The Cats of Yore account was created by Molly Hodgdon, and she posted a thread in which kitties are whetting their appetites with human food. “One of my favorite sub-genres of art is Cats Stealing Food in Still Life Paintings,” she writes in the first tweet. “It’s so wonderfully disrespectful. So here is a thread celebrating the need for snacks triumphing over art.”
Over the course of nine paintings, nearly all of them from the 17th and 18th centuries, she shares pictures of cats at the height of their naughtiness. The paintings show them swiping sausage and being caught with whole fish in their mouths. In one piece, the cat is deciding if it’s worth pawing an entire tray of oysters.
Each artwork is rendered with sincerity, as if the artist doesn't see the inherent humor of cats stealing food; it's this seriousness that makes the pieces so amusing in the first place. The tweet thread also teaches an enduring lesson. No matter how beautiful a spread is, cats simply do not care—especially if it means getting a tasty treat.
Think that cats stealing human food only happens today? One Twitter thread is showing that no, kitties have been mischievous throughout the centuries.
Still life with a Cat and a Mackerel on a Tabletop. Giovanni Rivalta. https://t.co/xQvCm46dVz pic.twitter.com/klqX9TFAdk
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Still life with Cat. Sebastiano Lazzari. 1760. https://t.co/CLVL7gpUdJ pic.twitter.com/HTbWY5OUp7
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
The lack of guilt on this one kills me. Abraham van Beijeren. https://t.co/Hom0xkqNLI pic.twitter.com/CDHsMAb7q6
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Art history is proof that cats do not care about a beautiful spread…
Still life with cat and fish. Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin, 1728. https://t.co/zFHySok2N9 pic.twitter.com/S9oJSQ6NLJ
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Still Life with an Ebony Chest. Frans Snyders, 17th century. https://t.co/8ZNaVYZ8NH pic.twitter.com/YgwtKjYjZu
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
…as long as they can get a tasty treat.
Kitchen still life with fish and cat. Ca. 1650. https://t.co/cawPT2bsok pic.twitter.com/KQkawaJWk6
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Still Life with Fish, Oysters, Birds, and Cat. Alexander Adriaenssen, 1631. https://t.co/G10ez8xCLU pic.twitter.com/u4XlDh3hdT
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Look at this absolute gremlin. Pieter Claesz, 1656. https://t.co/OzeQESH2Zx pic.twitter.com/YS1RqDRtG7
— Cats of Yore (@CatsOfYore) September 14, 2022
Cats of Yore: Twitter
h/t: [Neatorama]
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