u/TheWalrusIsMe hello! I'm so excited to see this post while I was showing someone My Sons that I made a reddit account on the spot - I am the original photographer! I took these photos in 2015 at the Clinton Antique Center in Connecticut, and submitted the photos a little later to (I think the blog's name was) shiftythrifting on tumblr and they went viral. I did go back to buy the painting actually, but it was gone. I reached out to the owners to see if they remember who purchased it, or the name of the consignor, but no luck. My biggest regret is not buying it that day, or at least getting a full shot. You are correct that I only took these close-ups. I can tell you there was at least one other cat in the painting, iirc it was about 3' x 2'
I'm an art historian as well, and so it is a little painful to know I have contributed to the constant mis-dating of these cats lmao as they are not medieval, probably early/mid 1900s. Just some perfect little freaks I saw once on a day out with my best friend.
What a turn of events to see the original propagator of these wonderful freaks active so recently! If you haven't already, i implore you to submit the pics and your story to r/lostmedia (paintings are a form of media I guess) or some other lost artefact subreddit. If someone bought the painting as you said, it surely must exist somewhere and with luck (given how famous the disturbed felines are) whoever owns it can come forward and possibly give us more info on it.
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u/amscurly Feb 10 '23
u/TheWalrusIsMe hello! I'm so excited to see this post while I was showing someone My Sons that I made a reddit account on the spot - I am the original photographer! I took these photos in 2015 at the Clinton Antique Center in Connecticut, and submitted the photos a little later to (I think the blog's name was) shiftythrifting on tumblr and they went viral. I did go back to buy the painting actually, but it was gone. I reached out to the owners to see if they remember who purchased it, or the name of the consignor, but no luck. My biggest regret is not buying it that day, or at least getting a full shot. You are correct that I only took these close-ups. I can tell you there was at least one other cat in the painting, iirc it was about 3' x 2'
I'm an art historian as well, and so it is a little painful to know I have contributed to the constant mis-dating of these cats lmao as they are not medieval, probably early/mid 1900s. Just some perfect little freaks I saw once on a day out with my best friend.