While medieval artists excelled at painting religious scenes and portraits of royalty, cats offered an altogether different challenge. It looks like the medieval painters never laid eyes on a cat.
87 thoughts on “Medieval Artists Were Really Bad At Drawing Cats”
Several of these cats were really bosses who thought they were using the potato filter.
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Love the cat with the crown- they would all identify with this!
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Those brought some real laughter at a grim time. Thanks!
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The mostly awful and evil depictions of cats in Medieval times was due to their perceived alliance with the devil and witches. Many cats were tortured and sacrificed after Pope Benedict accused them as heretical.
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Oops, cats being oppressed by the Vatican was instigated by Pope Gregory the IX, not Pope Benedict.
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Your. Site. Is. BRILLIANT!!!
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Delightful. I look forward to more like this. Thank you
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MEOW
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Oh how I loved looking at these! Good laughs. Thanks so much! As posted at the beginning, “It looks like the medieval painters never laid eyes on a cat.” Indeed! How unfair to one of God’s most graceful and delightful creations, especially in the cases where they have been given ugly human-like noses and mouths!
By the way, I was amused when I came across the explanation that the Chinese statues resembling pug dogs x pomeranians, perhaps, were the result of devout Buddhists trying to imagine what a lion might have looked like–as apparently a lion or lions feature in some stories about the Buddha. To my eyes, the results were as grotesque as the Buddhist “lions” in front of temples, but the statues do not look as hideous and evil as these poor cats!
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I think the crown is bishop’s mitre, which makes it all the more fabulous!!!
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these pics are cash lol
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I love these !!!!
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Love all these cat pics…a lot of humanesque faces–I saw maybe one close catface.Great research was done to present these faces!!! Thank you!!
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im gonna trow up…
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Terrific I don’t know which one I picked is the best they are all so good , I had a good laugh over some of them thank you
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If you can’t take a picture, I think painting cats would be quite difficult, they really don’t play nice when you want them to do something. Bet there aren’t any good paintings of cheetahs back then, either… Just sayin
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After the persecution of cats, came the plague. They killed so many cats the rats proliferated and brought the fleas which spread the bubonic plague.
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You are the cat’s MEOW!
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Some do not even look like cats
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I love them….well, the first one, and it’s orange companion…the others are a bit more complex..
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I laughed so much I cried. But it makes you wonder what aspects of our art will they be laughing about in a few hundred years.
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Please stop … enough cat, dog and pet themed stuff.
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this is stoopid
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I love how in the dog and cat one the dog is like dafuk is that thing lol haha
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Some of these things look like they had too much catnip and had hallucinations of grandeur or had horrible plastic surgery fails but a lot of self-confidence.
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I love these cats, both original and delightful. Not always a great likeness, but strangely compelling.
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Or that’s what cats really looked like back then! :)
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alcuni belli, altri terrificanti, ma è sempre il mondo Gatto
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Well… Now we know where Cats the movie got its inspiration.
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That last one clearly shows a Catloaf.
Have they ever actually seen a cat?
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lol
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I mean this is better than how I can draw cats in real life. But still LOLOLOLOLOL
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hmm, no <3
The third cat from the bottom looks like Mike Tyson.
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Medieval artists were really bad. Drop the bit about drawing cats. Just really bad.
Several of these cats were really bosses who thought they were using the potato filter.
Love the cat with the crown- they would all identify with this!
Those brought some real laughter at a grim time. Thanks!
The mostly awful and evil depictions of cats in Medieval times was due to their perceived alliance with the devil and witches. Many cats were tortured and sacrificed after Pope Benedict accused them as heretical.
Oops, cats being oppressed by the Vatican was instigated by Pope Gregory the IX, not Pope Benedict.
Your. Site. Is. BRILLIANT!!!
Delightful. I look forward to more like this. Thank you
MEOW
Oh how I loved looking at these! Good laughs. Thanks so much!
As posted at the beginning, “It looks like the medieval painters never laid eyes on a cat.” Indeed! How unfair to one of God’s most graceful and delightful creations, especially in the cases where they have been given ugly human-like noses and mouths!
By the way, I was amused when I came across the explanation that the Chinese statues resembling pug dogs x pomeranians, perhaps, were the result of devout Buddhists trying to imagine what a lion might have looked like–as apparently a lion or lions feature in some stories about the Buddha. To my eyes, the results were as grotesque as the Buddhist “lions” in front of temples, but the statues do not look as hideous and evil as these poor cats!
I think the crown is bishop’s mitre, which makes it all the more fabulous!!!
these pics are cash lol
I love these !!!!
Love all these cat pics…a lot of humanesque faces–I saw maybe one close catface.Great research was done to present these faces!!! Thank you!!
im gonna trow up…
Terrific I don’t know which one I picked is the best they are all so good , I had a good laugh over some of them thank you
If you can’t take a picture, I think painting cats would be quite difficult, they really don’t play nice when you want them to do something. Bet there aren’t any good paintings of cheetahs back then, either… Just sayin
After the persecution of cats, came the plague. They killed so many cats the rats proliferated and brought the fleas which spread the bubonic plague.
You are the cat’s MEOW!
Some do not even look like cats
I love them….well, the first one, and it’s orange companion…the others are a bit more complex..
I laughed so much I cried.
But it makes you wonder what aspects of our art will they be laughing about in a few hundred years.
Please stop … enough cat, dog and pet themed stuff.
this is stoopid
I love how in the dog and cat one the dog is like dafuk is that thing lol haha
Some of these things look like they had too much catnip and had hallucinations of grandeur or had horrible plastic surgery fails but a lot of self-confidence.
I love these cats, both original and delightful. Not always a great likeness, but strangely compelling.
Or that’s what cats really looked like back then! :)
alcuni belli, altri terrificanti, ma è sempre il mondo Gatto
Well… Now we know where Cats the movie got its inspiration.
That last one clearly shows a Catloaf.
Have they ever actually seen a cat?
lol
I mean this is better than how I can draw cats in real life. But still LOLOLOLOLOL
hmm, no <3
The third cat from the bottom looks like Mike Tyson.
Medieval artists were really bad. Drop the bit about drawing cats. Just really bad.
Thank you wow good cats very funy