Cats in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Cats

Cat sits with youth standing before fire, calendar (Bodl. 614, fol. 3r), mid-12th century
A white cat, De medicina ex animalibus (Ashmole 1462, fol. 58v), end of the 12th century
Cats in initials in a psalter (St. John's College K.30), c. 1190-1200: T (fol. 56r), N (fol. 66v), and T (fol. 131r)
Cat, Aberdeen Bestiary (fol. 23v), c. 1200
Cat in the capital of a column at the Church of St. Pelagius in Denkendorf, c. 1200
Cats in the Ashmole Bestiary (Ashmole 1511, fol. 35v), beginning of the 13th century
Cat preaching to rats in a psalter (Ashmole 1525, fol. 40r), 1st quarter of the 13th century
Cats in a bestiary (Bodl. 764, fol. 51r), 2nd quarter of the 13th century
Drawings of cats in the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt (BNF Fr. 19093, fol. 7v), c. 1230
Cat, the Harley Bestiary (British Library Harley 4751, fol. 30v), c. 1230-1240
Cat with a mouse, bestiary (British Library Sloane 3544, fol. 20v), 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century
Cats in a bestiary (Bodl. 533, fol. 13r), mid-13th century
A cat eyes a mouse in the border of a bible (Bibl. Mazarine 13, fol. 267v), c. 1270
A cat with a rat in its mouth, psalter (Douce 118, fol. 134v), end of the 13th century
Noah's Ark, La Somme le Roi (Bibl. Mazarine 870, fol. 103), 1295
Female cat carrying a kitten in her mouth toward three dead kittens, Manafi' al-hayawan (PML M.500, fol. 49v), c. 1297-1300
A cat eats a rat, bestiary (Douce 88, fol. 95r), c. 1300
A cat watches a rat in a hole, the Ormesby Psalter (Douce 366, fol. 131r), end of the 13th century-c. 1310
A cat in a snail-shell, book of hours (British Library Stowe 17, fol. 185r), first quarter of the 14th century
Detail from The Last Supper by Pietro Lorenzetti, c. 1320
A cat with a mouse in its mouth, psalter (Douce 5, fol. 44r, c. 1320-1330
A cat plays with a mouse, the Luttrell Psalter (Brit. Lib. Add. 42130, fol. 190r), c. 1325-1340
Tibert the cat waits outside Renart's lair, Romance of Reynard the Fox and Isengrin (Douce 360, fol. 6r), 1339
A cat listens to a jester play music (fol. 32r) and a woman raises a distaff at a cat (fol. 42r), Voeux du paon (PML G.24), 1345-1355
A cat can see well during the day or night (fol. 139v) and a cat can be deceived by its reflection (fol. 147v), Concordantiae caritatis (Lilienfeld Stiftsbibliothek 151), c. 1349-1351
A cat and mouse, Livre des proprietes des choses (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 1029, fol. 255), c. 1350
Cat, Der Naturen Bloeme (KB KA 16, fol. 64vb), c. 1350
A cat with a rat in its mouth, Book of Papirius (Rawl. C. 328, fol. 123v), middle of the 14th cenury
Cheese, Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB 2644, fol. 30r), c. 1370-1400
Willehalm says farewell to Gyburg, Willehalm (ÖNB 2643, fol. 251r), 1387
A rat rides on a cat's back (fol. 76v) and another cat (fol. 238), the Pontifical of Guillaume Durand (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 143), before 1390
Roasting and frying, Tacuinum sanitatis (Casanatense 4182), late 14th century

Thou seydest this, that I was lyk a cat;
For whoso wolde senge a cattes skyn,
Thanne wolde the cat wel dwellen in his in.
And if the cattes skyn be slyk and gay,
She wol nat dwelle in house half a day,
But forth she wole, er any day be dawed,
To shewe hir skyn, and goon a-caterwawed.
This is to seye, if I be gay, sire shrewe,
I wol renne out, my borel for to shewe.

The Wife of Bath's Prologue, ll. 354-362,
in The Canterbury Tales

Noah boards the Ark, Bible historiale (BNF Fr. 159, fol. 13), 14th-15th century
The devil appears in the form of a cat to St. Dominic of Calerueja, Le Miroir Historial (KB 72 A 24, fol. 313v), c. 1400-1410
A cat tempted by mice, Blumen der Tugend (ÖNB 13567, fol. 124v), 1411
A cat tempted by mice, Blumen der Tugend (ÖNB 12819, fol. 130r), first half of the 15th century
Cats on fols. 3v, 4v, 6v, 36v, 59v, 85r, 125r, 165r, and 172r of the Hours of Charlotte of Savoy (M.1004), c. 1420-1425
Marginal decoration with a cat and mouse, Missale Romanum (Toulouse 96, fol. 29r), c. 1420-1499
A cat curls up on bellows on a 15th century misericord
A cat on a maiolica bowl from Faenza, 15th century
Ape versus cat in a border from Promptuarium Iuris (Universitätsbibliothek Graz 23, I, fol. 313v), 1429
A dog glares at a cat (fol. 11v) and another cat (fol. 12r), a book of hours (PML G.9), c. 1435-1455
A cat with a ball, bestiary (MMW 10 B 25, fol. 24v), c. 1450
A sitting cat holds a rat, book of hours (Douce 248, fol. 210r), mid-15th century
A white cat plays the organ, book of hours (Douce 80, fol. 106v), 15th century
The complaint of Philip of Burgundy, Romance of the Count of Artois (BNF Fr. 11610, fol. 82v), c. 1450-1460
Omen of the war of the allies, The City of God (BNF Fr. 27, fol. 64v), third quarter of the 15th century
Door with a cat hole, France, c. 1450-1500
The herald and his cat (an ocelot? a serval? a jaguar?) in the Procession of the Old King in the Procession of the Magi frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459-1460
Cat, Der Naturen Bloeme (KB 76 E 4, fol. 27vb), c. 1450-1500
Border from a manuscript of Llull's Llibre de meravelles (BNF Fr. 189, fol. 283), second half of the 15th century
Omen of the royalty of Tullius, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 288, fol. 31v), second half of the 15th century
Three sketches of a cat's head, two sketches of a cat's head, sketch of the front of a sitting cat, sketch of a sitting cat and the infant Jesus, by Pisanello, 15th century
The feast of the peacock, The Book of the Conquests and Deeds of Alexander (Musée du Petit-Palais L.Dut.456, fol. 86v), 15th century
A cat in a border (fol. 89r) and a cat held by an ape, and another cat chasing a mouse in another border (fol. 94v), a prayerbook (ÖNB 2599), c. 1460-1470
A jester rides on a cat's back, book of hours (PML M.167, fol. 84r), c. 1465-1475
A cat licks itself, Livre des Prouffis Champestres et Ruraux (PML M.232, fol. 201v), c. 1470
A medieval cat plays the psaltery (fol. 62v) and wears a mantle (fol. 109r), a book of hours (PML H.7), c. 1470
A cat licks its back in a border in a book of hours (PML M.28, fol. 16r), c. 1470
The spinner and the visitor by Israhel van Meckenem, 15th century
A cat catches a mouse (fol. 26), an ape gives milk to a cat (fol. 37v), an ape churning butter while a cat laps up milk in a bowl (fol. 39), a book of hours (Bibl. Mazarine 502, fol. 26), fourth quarter of the 15th century
Grima of Galapia learns the news, The Knight Cifar (BNF Espagnol 36, fol. 15v), fourth quarter of the 15th century
Pilate washes his hands, c. 1475-1500
Sketches of a cat by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1480-1485
A cat with a mouse in its mouth (fol. 33r) and a stretching cat (fol. 409v) in the borders of an antiphonary (Universitätsbibliothek Graz 1), 1481
The author observes two cats and two mice, Dialogus Creaturarum, 1482
Sketches of the Virgin and Child with a cat and sketch of the Virgin and Child with a cat and another sketch of the Virgin and Child with a cat by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1480
Detail from The Birth of Mary from an altarpiece at Biertan in Romania, c. 1480-1500
A cat in the letter L, Kuttenberger Kantionale (ÖNB Mus. Hs. 15501, fol. 68v), 1490
Santa Francesca Romana Clothed by the Virgin attributed to Antonio da Viterbo the Elder
Woodcut of a cat and mouse, c. 1500
A cat carries a mouse in its mouth, a book of hours (PML M.175, fol. 117r), c. 1500
Adam and Eve by Albrecht Dürer, 1504
Misericord of a cat with its feet in a milk-pot, Church of St. Nicholas in Kalkar, c. 1505-1508
Girl Making a Garland by Hans Süss von Kulmbach
Penelope with the Suitors by Pintoricchio, c. 1509
A cat holds up the heraldry of St. Lambrecht and Abbot Johannes Sachs, Breviarium Benedictinum (Universitätsbibliothek Graz 56, III, fol. 148r), 1510
Sorgheloos in Poverty, stained glass, c. 1510-1520
Detail (upside-down) from The Lecture tapestry, c. 1520
Annunciation by Jan de Beer
Annunciation by Jan de Beer, c. 1520
Cats in the Tudor Pattern Book (Ashmole 1504, fol. 32v), c. 1520-1530
A cat sleeps on top of a tiled stove in the January section of the Augsburger Monatsbilder, 1520s
A cat in a detail from the Creation of the Animals, book of hours (Douce 135, fol. 17v), 2nd quarter of the 16th century
Annunciation by Lorenzo Lotto, c. 1527
Allegory of Music by Hans Baldung Grien, c. 1529
Birth of St. John the Baptist; a cat sits on the cradle (fol. 23v) and a cat with two dogs at the Last Supper (fol. 56r), the Hours of Eleonora Ippolita Gonzaga (Douce 29), c. 1530-1538
Detail from Human Life: Old Age tapestry, 1534
Portrait of a lady with a cat by Ambrosius Benson (also here)
Portrait of Cleophea Holzhalb by Hans Asper, 1538
Portrait of a woman with a cat by Bacchiacca, 1540s
Portrait of a woman with a cat by Ambrosius Benson, c. 1540-1550
Woman with a cat by Francesco Bacchiacca, 1540s
Lady at a window with two children by Erhard Schön, 1541
Detail from The Last Supper by Jacopo Bassano, c. 1546
Portrait of a young lady holding a cat by Francesco Bacchiacca
Detail from Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559
Detail from The Marriage at Cana by Paolo Veronese, 1563
Leda and the Swan by Tintoretto, c. 1570
The Kitchen by Joachim Beuckelaer
The animals enter the Ark by Jacopo Bassano
Noah's Sacrifice by Jacopo Bassano, c. 1574
The Madonna and Child with St. Joseph and the Infant Baptist (La Madonna del Gatto) by Federico Barocci, c. 1575
A visit to the wet nurse by Marten van Cleve
Sketch of a cat's head by Federico Barocci
Detail from The Garden of Paradise by Jacob de Backer, c. 1576-1600
Kitchen by Vincenzo Campi, 1580s
Detail from Otto Venius painting, surrounded by his family, 1584
Detail from Jupiter as a Satyr with Antiope and her Twins by Vincent Sellaer, 16th century
Two children teasing a cat by Annibale Carracci, c. 1590
Annunciation by Federico Barocci, 1592-1596
The gourmand by Jodocus van Winghe, 1593
The animals enter the Ark by Gerolamo Bassano, 16th century
The Last Supper by Leandro Bassano, 16th century
Detail from The Wedding at Cana by Leandro Bassano, 16th century
Portrait of a woman with a cat attributed to Pierre Biard, 16th century
Sketch of a girl holding a cat from an artist in the circle of Giuseppe Cesari, 16th century
The Holy Family with St. Anne, St. Elizabeth, and the boy St. John the Baptist by the workshop of Franz Floris, 16th century
Sketch of a domestic scene by Annibale Carracci, 16th century
Children play with a cat, Ming-dynasty China, 16th century
Portrait of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton c. 1603