Cats in Art: Portrait of Louise Vernet as a Child (Gericault)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. I'm using some ideas from the coffee table book, The Cat in Art, by Stefano Zuffi.

Click image for larger. Image credit Wikipaintings, here.  Portrait of Louise Vernet as a Child, Theodore Gericault, 1819, oil on canvas, 50 cm x 60 cm, held by Musee du Louvre, Paris, France.

Zuffi laconically observes:

Following the eighteenth-century fashion for depicting cats held in the arms of their owners, Gericault portrayed Louise, daughter of the well-known painter Horace Vernet, posed with an enormous cat.

Enormous, indeed--the cat looks like a mountain lion.  But at least it's placid, for now.