Cats in Art: The Bogey-Cat (Bocchi)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I am using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

Click to enlarge, ESC to return.  Image credit Nec Spe, Nec Metu (an art blog whose title means Without Hope, Without Fear), The Bogey-Cat, Faustino Bocchi, c. 1740, oil on canvas, 16" x 21", held by Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy.

Zuffi's comment:

Faustino Bocchi's paintings depict a word turned upside down--absurd and thus even more biting and grotesque...What emerges from these pictures--of dwarf humans and giant animals, of humans looking after animals--is a satire of the notion of "superior being."

I love this painting where a giant cat is saddled and ridden.  And the size: only 16" x 21".  How does Bocchi cram that much detail into so tiny a space?

And no matter what we or any artist thinks, cats are the superior being.  Just ask one.