Exhibition on Cats in Medieval Manuscripts Opens

8 hours ago7 min read

Forget the serious tomes and hushed gallery tones for a moment, because the Walters Art Museum has just opened an exhibition that proves the internet didn’t invent cat obsession—medieval scribes and artists were way ahead of us. ‘Paws on Parchment’ is a delightfully quirky deep dive into the furry, mischievous, and surprisingly sacred appearances of cats across medieval manuscripts from Europe, Asia, and the Islamic world.It’s the kind of show that makes you realize history isn't just about kings and battles; it's also about the little paw prints left on priceless pages. Imagine a bored monk, painstakingly illuminating a sacred text in a chilly scriptorium, when his companion—a monastery cat on the hunt for a warm spot—decides to saunter right across the freshly inked vellum.Instead of starting over in a rage, the clever artist incorporated those inky smudges into the margin, turning an accident into a playful illustration of a cat chasing a mouse. That’s the spirit this exhibition captures: the unexpected, often humorous, and deeply human intersections between our lives and our pets, preserved for centuries.The show isn't just a collection of cute pictures, though there are plenty of those, from elegant Egyptian cats in Arabic scientific texts to playful kittens tumbling in the margins of French Books of Hours. It traces a fascinating cultural journey, showing how cats were viewed as everything from practical pest controllers in medieval libraries and apothecaries to symbols of laziness and even demonic temptation in some Christian allegories, while being revered as clean creatures in Islamic traditions.You get the sense of these animals weaving through daily life, from the royal courts to the humble workshop, their personalities—aloof, curious, destructive, affectionate—leaping off the page just as they do off your couch today. The exhibition cleverly uses these artifacts to tell a broader story about companionship, art, and the impulse to document the world around us, long before the age of camera phones.It’s a human-interest story spanning continents and centuries, proving that the urge to sketch your napping cat on whatever is handy is truly timeless. For visitors, it’s a warm, accessible, and surprisingly relatable portal into the past, reminding us that the connection between humans and cats is an ancient, enduring, and wonderfully documented love affair.

#medieval manuscripts

#cats in art

#Walters Art Museum

#exhibition

#art history

#culture

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