CONTENTS: The first edition of this well-known suite of ten playful studies of cats by the Swiss artist Gottfried Mind (1768-1814), an autistic savant who was widely known as 'der Katzen-Raffael' (the Raphael of cats). Mind's artistic treatment of domestic cats was rather revolutionary. He eschewed the prior portrayal of cats in art and ilustration as simple vermin hunters, capturing instead their playful and curious nature. His art seemed to reach into the soul of the cat for the first time.
His talent for drawing cats brought him fame, with one of his pictures being purchased by King George IV of England. The German landscape painter C.H. Legel discovered Mind's talent as a draughtsman; Sigmund Freudenberger, at whose house he stayed, was his patron, and the art historian Wagner took a friendly interest in his work.
The portfolio of 10 full-page lithographs is here presented in a later binding with new endpapers (it would have originally been published loose and in plain wrappers). There are 8 pages of preliminary text.
Provenance: Library of the late Marianne C. Gourary.
|