Artwork Title: A Concert of of Cats, Owls, a Magpie, and a Monkey in a Barn

A Concert of of Cats, Owls, a Magpie, and a Monkey in a Barn

Cornelis Saftleven

The brother of the landscape painter Herman Saftleven, Cornelis was a prolific draftsman and a painter of a wide variety of subject matter, including rustic genre scenes and still lifes, religious subjects, animals, portraits and landscapes. The present work is a charming example of his delight in satire and outlandish subjects. In the work, a young man and a child watch from the entryway of a barn as a monkey conducts a chorus of cats. An owl -- waving a pennant flag -- and a magpie seem to preside over the concert from a perch to the left, while two more owls and additional cats cheer them on. The cats all wear fine collars -- one even has an elaborate headpiece -- and the barn floor is strewn with playing cards, dice, bottles of alcoholic spirits and other references to sinfulness and idleness. During the 17th century, cats, monkeys and magpies were all viewed as sensual and untrustworthy animals, while owls, far from being the symbol of wisdom they are today, were signs of ignorance and intemperance. In fact, "zoo zot als een uyl (as drunk as an owl)" was a popular Dutch idiom, which sprang from the fact that an owl, accustomed to seeing at night, could not see clearly during the day and would stumble around as if intoxicated. The moral lesson for the two humans who happen upon this scene and for the viewer of Saftleven's painting seems clear enough: a life of lassitude and indulgence is a wasted, animalistic existence. Saftleven painted at least one other version of this scene (Schulz, no. 532), and Schulz was the first to suggest that they may be based upon a lost composition by Jan Brueghel the Elder. The works also reveal the influence of Saftleven's contemporary, David Teniers the Younger, whose work had a profound influence on him when he traveled to Antwerp in 1632. A Temptation of Saint Anthony (Private Collection) and The Trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, inv. no. A 1588) are other examples of Saftleven's use of animals to represent sinfulness, frivolity and the darker side of the human psyche. (http://www.sothebys.com/fr/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/important-old-master-paintings-sculpture-n08712/lot.169.html) Similar to "A Glaring of Cats Making Music and Singing" by an unknown artist (http://curiator.com/art/unknown/a-glaring-of-cats-making-music-and-singing) and Cat's Concert,1696, by Ferninand Van Kessel (http://curiator.com/art/ferninand-van-kessel/cats-concert)
Uploaded on Jan 1, 2017 by Suzan Hamer

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