In the 1470s, a Flemish scribe left some meticulously drafted pages of an illuminated manuscript out to dry, only to find out the next day that his cat had trod over them, leaving inky paw prints on the parchment. (Contemporary writers will know the similar pain of typos and elisions wrought by a feline friend’s frenzied scamper across a keyboard.)
Now, more than 500 years later, those pattered pages are the “cat”-alyst for an exhibition at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum. Aptly titled “Paws on Parchment,” the show explores how medieval illustrators in Europe, Asia, and the Islamic world celebrated cats in the marginalia of their manuscripts and beyond. On view through February 22, 2026, it’s the first of three exhibitions over the next two years dedicated to the depiction of animals in art.
Installation view of “Paws on Parchment” at the Walters Art Museum. Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Lynley Anne Herbert, the museum’s curator of rare books and manuscripts, said the Flemish manuscript is “remarkable” in the way that it preserves a fleeting moment of man versus cat from over half a millennium ago. “Objects like this have a way of bridging across time, as it’s just so relatable for anyone who has ever had a cat,” she said. After coming across it in the Walters’ collection, she started making a list of other kitty sightings until she had enough works for an exhibition.
A 15th-century manuscript bearing the tell-tale marks of a frisky feline. Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Herbert researched the works from a lot of different angles to better understand how people felt about cats. This included primary sources like medieval poetry, moral and cautionary tales, recorded pet names, and discussions of cats in encyclopedic works like Isidore of Seville’s , from the 7th century, and in medieval bestiaries.
Pets with Purpose
She was surprised by what she found. “Many medieval people loved their cats just as much as we do,” she said. However, the reason people kept them in homes, churches, and libraries was less for company and more for the practical reason of rodent control. Their skills at hunting mice and rats were critical to protecting food stores, valuable books, and textiles—and of course, preserving their owners from the plague and other diseases carried by vermin. “Because this was their key purpose in people’s lives, they are most often shown hunting mice,” Herbert said. “While this is still something a house cat might do today, our lives and livelihoods generally don’t depend on their success.”
Detail of a medieval manuscript. Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Their was also a symbolic value in a moggie’s mice-catching abilities for medieval audiences. “Due to their stealthiness, ability to see in the dark, and deadly hunting skills, cats chasing mice became symbolic of the way the devil toys with the souls of sinners, and how he will inevitably catch them,” Herbert explained.
Many scribes depicted cats playing instruments—one of their more playful and whimsical inventions, which echo our internet-era cat memes. (Think, keyboard cat.) But even these seemingly silly images would have had “complex and serious” layers of meaning to a medieval viewer, Herbert said. “[They] reinforce the importance of an orderly society by showing the chaos possible if the natural order of things got turned on its head.”
Page from a medieval manuscript. Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Blessed Be the Beans
Other works in the show reveal cats in surprising places. Take the 15th-century Italian painting, , in which a kitten holds up its paw to compare her tiny pads—or, as cat lovers call them, “toe beans”—to baby Jesus’s equally small toes. The curious image is likely inspired by a lesser-known legend about the Nativity, wherein Mary prayed for help to keep the newborn Christ Child warm and, lo and behold, a cat hopped in the manger to cuddle up with him. In appreciation, Mary then blessed the cat and traced her initial, “M,” on its forehead, ultimately giving tabbies their distinctive markings.
Installation view of “Paws on Parchment.” Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Meanwhile, a 17th-century Armenian gospel book is unusually peppered with pussycat imagery. An inscription reveals that the manuscript was commissioned by a woman named Napat in memory of herself and her family. Perhaps these kitties were their beloved fur babies?
A 13th-century Turkish version of the depicts a black cat in the text. Cats were admired for their cleanliness throughout the Islamic world and the Prophet Mohammed advocated for compassion towards them. Many Islamic rulers would go to great lengths to care for kitties, including 13th-century Mamluk sultan Al Zahir Baybars, who established “cat gardens” to provide food and shelter to feline citizens.
A Purr-fect Private View
Speaking of caring for cats, the Walters has partnered with the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter for the exhibition. After it opened, a litter of four, six-week-old foster kittens were given a private tour of the show to introduce them to the images and lore of their ancestors.
Kitty visitors to the Walters Art Museum. Photo: courtesy of the Walters Art Museum.
Herbert said it was “such a delightful experience” to see them padding across the vitrine with the paw print manuscript in it, and comparing their little paw prints to those from 500 years ago. “They were so sweet, and after spending two hours with them I grew really attached… so my family and I just officially adopted two of them!” she said. “It’s been such an unexpected and special outcome, and I’m so grateful they scampered into my gallery, and left their paw prints on my heart.”
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
