Cat fight
What could be more surprising than the intervention of the unexpected in the calm of everyday life? This scene of a fight between domesticated cats in the middle of a kitchen with bourgeois comfort is surprising. This painting is an opportunity to show the brilliance with which Flemish painters knew how to give still life its letters of nobility. The painter depicts a magnificent still life composed of rich silverware, silver cutlery, a bread basket containing peaches, as well as artichokes arranged in a basin.
This composition is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of three furious cats. The unbalanced felines defy gravity, one grabbing the other by the throat while a third watches the scene, spitting and ready to pounce. This scene is in keeping with the Flemish artistic tradition of depicting struggling animals. This subject is represented in particular in the work of Nicasius Bernaerts (Antwerp, 1620 - Paris, 1678), the main proponent of Flemish animal painting who spread his models to France.
