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Two Children Teasing a Cat

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 637
With expressions of cruel delight, two children torment a cat with the pincers of a crayfish. The painting may illustrate an Italian proverb similar to “let sleeping dogs lie.” Painted with directness and spontaneity, this painting is among the earliest Italian genre paintings. It belonged to Cardinal Tommaso Ruffo (1663–1753), who also owned Velázquez’s Juan de Pareja, on view in a nearby gallery.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Two Children Teasing a Cat
  • Artist: Annibale Carracci (Italian, Bologna 1560–1609 Rome)
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 26 x 35 in. (66 x 88.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Gwynne Andrews Fund, and Bequests of Collis P. Huntington and Ogden Mills, by exchange, 1994
  • Object Number: 1994.142
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
The Coronation of the Virgin, Annibale Carracci Italian, Oil on canvas
The Coronation of the Virgin
Annibale Carracci
after 1595
Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian
Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610
The Penitent Magdalen, Georges de La Tour French, Oil on canvas
The Penitent Magdalen
Georges de La Tour
ca. 1640
Merry Company on a Terrace, Jan Steen Dutch, Oil on canvas
Merry Company on a Terrace
Jan Steen
ca. 1670
Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness, Annibale Carracci Italian, Oil on copper
Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness
Annibale Carracci
ca. 1600

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