Geen nutter dier voor rot en muis / Als een mooi katje in uw huis. / Want het doorsnuffeld alle hoeken / om dit gedierte op te zoeken 1781 - 1828

Curator: Here we have an engraving, drawing and print "Geen nutter dier voor rot en muis / Als een mooi katje in uw huis. / Want het doorsnuffeld alle hoeken / om dit gedierte op te zoeken," made between 1781 and 1828, credited to Jan Hendriksen. It includes text, textile and depicts a cat. What's your first impression? Editor: Well, it’s…certainly a cat. There's something deeply unsettling, almost humorous, about its rigidly upright posture and vacant stare. It feels less like a portrait of a cat and more like a bizarre mascot. Curator: These so-called “prenten” like this were designed to be both decorative and didactic, meant for a wider audience, to hang in homes. The artist wasn't trying to make fine art; this was meant to impart morals and popular wisdom. Consider the Dutch Golden Age context and the burgeoning print culture! Editor: Ah, so mass-produced wisdom, eh? Explains the stiff, slightly awkward composition, and that blocky font. There’s also something kind of earnest and folk-arty about that tabby patterning and color that’s really growing on me. This has been made to have pride of place in a home. I can see someone really being soothed by the sight of it and its wise little homilies. Curator: It reflects the anxieties of the time regarding pest control and the comforting presence of a domestic animal, as a reflection of bourgeois values. Notice how the inscription beneath reinforces this theme – it really drove home the point, creating a sense of order and domesticity during tumultuous times. Editor: It is a really bizarre domestic idyll, and of course completely fails. But also succeeds. This awkward folk kitty both celebrates domesticity and, just perhaps, subverts it a little with its intense weirdness. Curator: Precisely. These genre painting often present themselves as simply moral messages, they’re complex reflections of broader social tensions and cultural beliefs. Editor: Yeah. Thanks, cat, I feel…better armed against my impending sense of bourgeois angst now. This will really stick with me for a while. Curator: Absolutely! Hopefully, now, you'll view folk art quite differently.