FELINE ART: "MY WIFE'S LOVERS" - "MY WIFE'S LOVERS"

A painting with the special name "My Wife's Lovers" is a canvas painting by the Austrian artist Carl Kahler (1855-1906) depicting 42 of the 350 cats of Kate Birdsall Johnson, a generous American billionaire lover of cats. The painting is huge and measures almost 1.82 meters x 2.59 meters and weighs 103 kg and the title was given by Kate Birdsall Johnson who ironically expressed her side as a "cat lady". The painting was commissioned in 1891.

The artist, who did not have a great knowledge of cats and had never painted a cat before, began to observe them, trying to get to know their intimate and wild nature and represent it in some sketches. A job that lasted three years that Johnson never saw completed because he unfortunately died in 1893.

Kate Birdsall Johnson lived in her villa in Sonoma County in California with 350 beautiful cats, between European and purebred, including white, black and tricolor. Her favorites include Sultano, the cat you see in the center of the picture, which she bought during one of her trips to Paris. On her death he left a substantial legacy to those who would take care of her cats and gave him a comfortable and safe life.