The Cats-Paw
Lithographer Nathaniel Currier American
Publisher Nathaniel Currier American
After Sir Edwin Henry Landseer British
Not on view
The image derives from a painting by Edwin Landseer, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Next to a hot stove, a monkey dressed in a costume, holds a struggling cat and cruelly uses one of its paws to knock roasting chestnuts off the stove. Above on a shelf, a basket holds a hissing kitten, with a second standing next to it. The monkey's garb suggests that it has been trained to perform tricks and here uses its abilities to obtain a meal while its owner is absent.
