<artwork>

 <objecttitle>La dame avec son chat</objecttitle>
 <artistname>MARGUERITE GÉRARD (Grasse 1761 - Paris
 1837)</artistname>
 <longdescription>Signed lower left Mle Gerard br br&gt;Oil on
 panel br&gt;12 ¾ x 9 ¿ in. (32.4 x 24.5 cm.)&lt;br br&gt;The
 sitter, an elegant young woman, is dressed in a fashionable gown
 with her hair carefully curled, she also wears a pair of graceful
 yet modest pearl earrings which all together attest to her wealth
 and social status. She is seated at a table upon which a large
 white cat rests; with its slightly tilted head and direct gaze,
 it is a charming example of comfortable domesticity, as is its
 mistress. Specialising in genre scenes and portraiture, Gérard’s
 paintings represent an idealised view of contemporary bourgeois
 life in the private sphere occupied by women. Her subjects are
 wives and mothers, often accompanied by children, servants, or –