THE CAT IN ART 105 



Virgin ; which final subject so dear to the Italian 

 heart was seldom deemed complete without the 

 introduction of a cat into the spacious bed-chamber 

 of Saint Ann. This is all the more pleasing be 

 cause of Pussy s conspicuous absence from Pagan 

 art. The dog leaps by the side of Artemis, or bays 

 at the moon while Endymion slumbers. The kid 

 drinks from the shepherd s bowl, the young bull 

 is led garlanded to the sacrifice, the stag falls, 

 pierced by the hunter s dart. But of the little fire 

 side Sphinx we have no sign nor token. She and 

 she alone finds no place among the marble animals 

 of the Vatican. Those wise and watchful hounds, 

 those lions and wolves and spotted leopards make 

 no room for her. We see the hare couching upon 

 her form, and the lobster lying on its rocky bed ; 

 but for the most beautiful of domestic animals we 

 search, and search in vain. Only in the Capitoline 

 Museum may be found a spirited bas-relief, of a late 

 period, which represents a woman trying to teach 

 her cat to dance to the music of a lyre. The cat, a 

 sullen beast with no love of music or dancing in its 

 soul, has paused in the unwelcome task to snap 

 viciously at a young duck, which, with obvious lack 

 of caution, is thrusting forward its inquisitive head. 

 Centuries later, Tintoretto painted just such a pussy 

 snapping at just such a duck, in his charming pic 

 ture of Leda, Leda caressing the amorous swan, 



