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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=AEC85802128E765105DEF40E9DEC1A868E4C0D13125743FCDC7933DF0073D4F5&s=24247294&se=453947341&v=4&f=1979.82_o2.jpg

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Jan 30, 2007

The Monkey and the Cat

probably 1670s

Abraham Hondius

(Dutch, c. 1625–1695)

Netherlands

Oil on canvas

Framed: 80 x 93.5 x 6 cm (31 1/2 x 36 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 62.2 x 73.7 cm (24 1/2 x 29 in.)

Gift of The Butkin Foundation 1979.82

Location

not on view

Description

This picture interprets one of Aesop’s ancient Greek fables (or probably the more contemporary interpretation by Jean de la Fontaine, even more famous at the time), which warns of the dangers of flattery. A monkey sweet-talks a cat into pulling scalding chestnuts out of the fire. The cat finishes the risky and painful task to discover that the monkey has already gobbled up nearly all of them.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower left: "Abraham Hondius"

Provenance

1979-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

1974-1979

The Butkin Foundation, Cleveland, OH, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1 ¹

c. 1968-1974

Noah Butkin [1918-1980], Cleveland, OH, probably by exchange to The Butkin Foundation

Until c. 1968

(Judson Art Galleries, Kenilworth, IL, sold to Noah Butkin)

Probably until the mid-1960s

(Central Picture Galleries, New York, sold to Judson Art Galleries)1 ²

Provenance Footnotes

¹1 According to a letter from Norman A. Sugarman, president of The Butkin Foundation, to CMA director Sherman Lee, the Foundation acquired the painting in 1974 in exchange for two other works, both of which are unnamed in the letter. Noah Butkin presumably was the other party in this arrangement.

²1 Central Picture Galleries was owned and operated by dealers Jan and Oscar Klein. There are no extant records for the gallery. The provenance of the painting before it was with Central Picture Galleries remains unknown. There was a Hondius of similar subject matter in the sale of the collection of Lady North at Sotheby’s, London, on July 11, 1945 (no. 151). Although the painting’s post-sale and current whereabouts are unknown, Alfred Hentzen’s description of the painting (“Abraham Hondius,” Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunsthalle VIII, 1963, 39-40) as depicting a “monkey and cat fighting over a deal fowl” indicates it is not the CMA painting.

Citations

Norman A. Sugarman, letter to Sherman Lee, Aug. 29, 1979, in CMA curatorial file.

Harry Judson Moore, phone conversation with Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 13, 2014.

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 242; Mentioned: p. 243

Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (1980): 58-99. Reproduced: cat. no. 34, p. 66; Mentioned: p. 60 www.jstor.org

Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. Reproduced: p. 27; Mentioned: p. 21, p. 61

Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1979, The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 13 - March 9, 1980:, cat.no. 34, repr. (Bulletin, March 1980).

A Cleveland Bestiary, The Cleveland Museum of Art, October 14 - December 9, 1981: cat. fig. 2l and p. 29.

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980).

A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Monkey and the Cat|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1979.82|author=Abraham Hondius|year=probably 1670s|access-date=11 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Monkey and the Cat

The Monkey and the Cat

Abraham Hondius

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Provenance Footnotes

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