Monday 2nd December - At Home

 Here we are at the beginning of the first working week of December and I need to bottle my fruit gins today.  We have blackcurrant (from the garden), blackberry (from the common) and sloe (from the side of the Kennet and Avon canal) so I will attempt not to succumb to the fumes.  I opened the blackcurrant and took a sniff and it is smelling particularly medicinal. So, while I am still sober, let's crack on...

A valiant competitor at the cat-balancing championship, 1909

After yesterday's beginnings, I wanted a rather refined start to the week with an image of a graceful lady and her equally graceful cat, so I thought this one would fit the bill...

At Home: A Portrait (1872) Walter Crane

I wish I could say that my own dear home was this tranquil, but no-one's home has ever, or will ever be, as perfect as the Crane's home.  I have absolutely no evidence to back me up but it seems only sensible that this pale, blue and white heaven is the epitome of the House Beautiful. This exquisite water colour of Mrs Walter Crane (embroiderer Mary Frances Andrews) just after their marriage in 1871, was only the second (and last) of Crane's pictures to be accepted into the Royal Academy exhibitions. Everything is so orderly in this picture, even the cat is sitting tidy and straight, as its owner stands slightly curved, echoing the leafy arrangement in the blue and white vase on the mantlepiece.

Mr and Mrs Walter Crane being entirely normal

It's interesting that both cat and mistress are brown, contrasting yet complimentary to the blue.  The rest is so powdery and perfect it becomes an aesthetic mist around them. The blue tiles around the fireplace also seem to continue behind her, I think, under the wall hanging.  The floor and the rug echo and continue each other. I love how the coppery inside of the fireplace is echoed on her dress where the light hits her, and on the cats fur. In the extremely fascinating book Parasites, Pussycats and Psychosis, the author emphasises how women, cats and the home became intertwined during the 19th century. Unlike dogs, the journey to domestication with cats is a little less clear cut, with cats being very much working animals rather than fancy pets. You had a cat to kill your mice (or bring you a massive and very much alive rat, thank you Chairman Meow) rather than adorn your living room, but during the 19th century fashions changed and as the book says, no home was complete without a cat asleep in front of the fire. The linking of women and cats is an interesting one - witches have cats, all attributes of domestic cats are arguably feminine, being 'catty' or cat-like is inevitably female. 

This will not be the first or last aesthetic cat and lady combo I'll be serving you this Catvent.  I like to think that Chez Walker has a similar vibe as the above home but I fear I am kidding myself, especially with all the gin in the kitchen.  Speaking of which, I'm off to bottle some Christmas cheer!

See you tomorrow...