Cats in Schwarzenberg Palace. The National Gallery in Prague is organizing a unique exhibition The Good Cat and the Treacherous Cat in the Schwarzenberg Palace on Hradčany Square. Cats in 16th to 18th century graphics.
Václav Hollar's unique etching The Good Cat That Does Not Love from 1646 is one of the best known and most enigmatic works of this Czech Baroque engraver and draughtsman; it can be described as his iconic work. In Hollar's graphic work we also find other sheets with the theme of cats, both "good" and "treacherous". This contrasting conception corresponds to the ambivalent perception and representation of cats in ancient European art.
Cats have appeared in European graphic art since the 16th century, first as an accompanying motif and later as the main subject. They were particularly popular with 17th-century Dutch and Flemish artists, who were attracted by the decorative nature of their positions, their amusement and mystery, cuteness and predation, cunning and other ambiguous characteristics. Printmakers and draughtsmen depicted them not only in genre, allegorical, portrait or nature scenes, but also in paintings with religious themes. Cats have also figured in art as carriers of symbolic and moral meanings, for example in Aesop's fables or in satire. Moreover, capturing their fine fur was a challenge and an opportunity for printmakers to display their artistic mastery.
The chamber exhibition of prints and drawings is complemented by the painting Fool with a Cat by the leading Flemish Baroque painter Jacob Jordaens.
The exhibition can be visited daily except Mondays from 10:00 to 18:00 and will be open until 29 September.
photo: asan.cz / gnews.cz-Jana Černá
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