Hond en kat 1680 - 1694

This print, "Dog and Cat," was etched by Jan Griffier sometime around 1700. It depicts a conflict between the two titular animals. Griffier was a Dutch artist who spent much of his career in England, painting country houses and natural scenes. In this image, visual codes and cultural references are deployed to explore contemporary social tensions. Animal conflict was a popular subject in the early modern period, often used to allegorize human conflicts of class or politics. Here, the dog, a traditional symbol of loyalty and the hunt, clashes with a group of cats. Notice how the artist highlights the arched back and bared fangs of the cat. It's clear that Griffier wants us to see the standoff as a battle of equals. As historians, we can examine prints such as these to better understand the popular attitudes and anxieties of their time. Contemporary printed books and pamphlets can give us a better understanding of the place of animals in the social imagination. It seems that even a simple domestic scene can speak volumes about a culture's values.