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Cat - study for 'The Cut Finger' (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1785-1841

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1809

Medium

black, red and white chalk (recto), black and white chalk (verso) on laid paper (now light brown but probably originally blue paper)

Dimensions

Height: 8.1 cm
Width: 10.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2774

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Almost all WIlkie's drawings are studies for paintings. In 'The Cut Finger' (S.H. Whitbread Collection) this little cat is seated at the foot of an old woman who is tending to a young boy's wound. Wilkie's interest in the delineation of expressions and feelings is apparent from his closely observed portrayal of the sleep-eyed cat. In the domestic scene it signifies homeliness, as in many of the Dutch and Flemish paintings of everyday life which so influenced Wilkie.

Provenance

Charles Edward Lees, Werneth Park, Oldham (1840-1894); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 24 April 1936, lot 87; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), with D.1952.RW.2775, 2777 and 2778; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Captured on Paper, Animals in the Prints and Drawings Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/06/2002-11/08/2002

Paintings and Drawings by Sir David Wilkie, Royal Academy, Edinburgh, 1958

Literature

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 57

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: upper centre, fragment: lines visible but too fragmentary to identify.

Inscription: Cut Finger. / Head of the Girl binding it up. / The Cat. //

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