painting

Misbehaving

Henriette Ronner-Knip

About this work

Object details

TitleMisbehaving
Date1897
Mediumoil on canvas
Measurements89 × 71 cm
Inventory number1325
Inscriptionsupper left: Henriette Ronner: / 97.

More about this work

At the end of the 19th century pet cats became increasingly common in the salons of the wealthy middle class. Henriette Ronner Knip, a Dutch animal painter in Brussels, followed that trend closely. Endearing scenes with playful cats in attractive settings became her trademark. Henriette was trained by her father, Josephus Augustus Knip (1777-1847), who was known mainly as a landscapist. He advised his daughter to work from nature, so Henriette concentrated on life in and around the farm. In 1850 she married Feico Ronner, and the couple moved from Amsterdam to Brussels, attracted by its lively artistic life and the excellent opportunities to exhibit and sell. Henriette became fascinated by the countless dogs out on the street and decided to specialise in painting them. She depicted not only draught dogs with their fully laden carts, but also the lapdogs of fashionable ladies. Around 1870 she turned all her attention to cats, and became the best cat paintress of Belgium and the Netherlands. After long practice in drawing cats she knew precisely how to make them true to life. She often had them model for her in a specially designed piece of furniture, a Louis XV glass cabinet. She prepared her paintings very carefully, first filling in the secondary details before placing the animals in among them. She painted hundreds of cats, always wittily creating chaos in richly furnished rooms. One recurring subject was a mother cat with her brood. Misbehaving is a good example of her work. Under the watchful eye of their mother, the kittens are unhesitatingly exploring the secrets of a costly cabinet. They are tumbling into the open drawers and playing on the door. One kitten has tired itself out and is drowsing on top of the cabinet. The salon public loved Henriette’s cat scenes, and in 1898 the KMSKA gave in to the taste of the large public and bought this painting for the reduced price of 4,500 Belgian francs for its modern art department.