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The Cat and Venus; Mice in Council

Crane, Walter, 1900, Publisher's print
The Cat and Venus; Mice in Council
The Cat and Venus; Mice in Council
The Cat and Venus; Mice in Council
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Category
Library Item
Item no
40080
Title
The Cat and Venus; Mice in Council. Illustrated pages from 'Baby's Own Aesop'
Description
A man holding a cat looks up at a woman with flowing hair and a flowing gown standing above him. To her right behind a curtain, a half-woman half-cat is hunched over in bed as a mouse runs across the covers. Scallop shapes predominate in the furnishings, clothing and decorative motifs.
In the picture in the bottom right of the page, a single mouse is lit up holding a bell on a chain, while more mice and shadows gather round it in a variety of poses. The rhymes read:
"The Cat and Venus

"Might his cat be a woman," he said:
Venus changed her: the couple were wed:
But a mouse in her sight
metamorphosed her quite,
And, for bride, a cat found he instead.

Nature will out.

Mice in Council

Against cat sat a council of mice.
Every mouse came out prompt with advice;
And a bell on cat's throat
Would have met a round vote,
Had the bell-hanger not been so nice.

The best policy often turns on an if."
Artist / maker
Date
1900
Size
17.8 x 18.8 cm
Location
Art and Design Library
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG​
£6.10(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF​
£31.00(inc. VAT 20%)
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