"Lombard School, 16th": intriguing Feeding of the Swaddled Cat

Dorotheum, Austria, sells on 22 December 2016 a "Lombard School, 16th century" satirical banquet scene, estimated at 4,000 to 6,000 Euro.

The painting seems like a copy after an unknown better work, as it has the telltale signs of a good composition and rather poor execution.

Intriguing is the central element, of a cat which looks remarkably like a swaddled baby being spoonfed. The man feeding it is masked. On the left, another man is brandishing a pig's foot. Some people have oversized cutlery

At first the painting reminded me of Dutch works, e.g. by Jan Steen. The composition and the satirical character are similar, and it also has a family of cats in it (though they are treated normally).

To my surprise, I learned through some further searching that the image of the swaddled cat appears in many Western European countries. It must be based on some well-known satire or fable to have such a widespread appeal.

In Italy, we have Bartolomeo Passarotti or Passerotti (1529-1592), a painter from Bologna (so not too far from Lombardy): someone from his circle is supposed to have painted the above. This was sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $9,000.

The same image was also the basis for a French engraving, ''L'éducation du Matou'' by Leblond. It sadly doesn't mention an original author for the composition. The text reads:
"Avec que raison je puis dire / Que les visages que voicy / Qui n'ont point de soing que de rire / Me contraignent de rire aussi. // Esti quelque mélancholie / Qui vaille celle de ce fou / Qui veut donner de la bouillie / A ce ridicule matou. // Mais je trouve encore plus sotte / L'extravagance de Margot / Qui l'embéguine et l'emmaillotte / Plus estroittement qu'un fagot. // Un badin leur donne une aubade / Afin d'honnorer ce beau jeu / ou plustost pour faire grillade / Il prend les pincètes du feu."

Amateur translation, with the aid of Google translate:
"With good reason, I can say / that the faces that are here / that have nothing but laughter / compel me to laugh too. // Is there any melancholy / matching that madman / Who wants to give porridge / To this ridiculous tomcat. // But I find even more foolish / Margot's extravagance / Who covers and swaddles it / More narrowly than a fagot. // A joker gives them an aubade / In order to honor this beautiful game / or better to make grill / He takes the pincers of the fire."

Note the appearance of Margot la Folle, which is also the name of Brueghel's masterpiece "Dulle Griet" in French.  

In England, we have some curious woodcuts about "O Rare Show, or the Fumblers Club". Apparently a fumbler is an impotent man; the woman takes a cat instead, and people bring birthday presents for the cat as if it was a baby  These are supposedly from ca. 1660-1700. Note how in the topmost image, on the right, a fool plays the gridiron as if it was a fiddle, indicating the connection between the French image and these ones.

This then changes in later depictions in England, e.g. in this 1772 engraving (mezzotint) by W. Humphrey after J. R. Smith, showing the longevity of this particular iconographic element. It is titled "Miss Sukey and her Nursery".

In Flanders, we have David Ryckaert III with his "Old Woman feeding a cat", from the Hermitage. The English and Flemish examples show how the image evolved from a general satire on human folly, to one of silly older woman treating cats as if they are babies. 

And then finally, through some luck, I struck gold and found an original version of the work for sale.  It graced the cover of the 2009 issue (the 7th issue) of "Studiolo", the art magazine of the Académie Française in Rome - Villa Médicis. Presumably the above is a fragment of a larger work matching the one for sale here, but the quality is clearly superior. The theme of the issue was "Le comique dans l'art", "the comical in the arts", and this subject is of course perfectly suited for it. Sadly, the linked page has no information on who painted this or where it is kept.

The price for the work for sale seems about right, it is a copy but relatively large, painted well enough, and with a very intriguing image, which helps (many people would rather have this than some boring run-of-the-mill subject of course).  

UPDATE: a keen-eyed reader sent me the link to the original painting: it is housed at the Museum of Nantes and attributed to Northern Italy, second half of the 16th century. This confirms the work for sale as a good copy, but clearly not an original (especially some of the faces are clearly inferior to the Nantes version). 

The same reader also pointed, apart from the already mentioned Passerotti, to Vincenzo Campi as a possible artist for the original. He is known for similar satirical works. I found the above, attributed to a follower of Campi, which was sold at Gros & Delettrez in 2012 with an estimate of 2,000 to 3,000 Euro. It shows another version of the same story.

An original by Campi in the same vein is his "Ricotta-eaters". The style seems to be somewhat different to the Nantes work though. 

While looking at all these, I can across two French works (a beautiful drawing by Fragonard, and an engraving after Jean Baptiste Huet), showing the same basic idea but now as a piece of child's play, without any (apparent) satirical message.

UPDATE: not sold

UPDATE: another, very similar version was sold for 35,000 Euro at Debaecque (France) as "Italian School; circle of Niccolo Frangipane". (Information communicated by AuctionRadar who keeps a watchful eye  on mainly the French auctions).