Artwork
A Boy with a Cat—Morning
A Boy with a Cat—Morning is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Thomas Gainsborough. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work’s title, Morning, implies a fresh start or renewal, evoking themes of growth and tranquility that resonate with contemporary Enlightenment values.
The painting depicts a young boy tenderly holding a cat, set in an outdoor morning light that bathes both figures in a soft, diffused glow. The boy’s relaxed posture and gentle handling of the animal suggest affection and companionship, while the cat’s calm demeanor reinforces a mood of quiet harmony between human and animal.
Art historians interpret the scene as an idealized portrayal of childhood innocence and the simple pleasures of domestic life, aligning with eighteenth-century British interest in natural sentiment and familial affection. The work’s title, Morning, implies a fresh start or renewal, evoking themes of growth and tranquility that resonate with contemporary Enlightenment values.
Technique & Style
The painting employs oil on canvas, with the support measuring 150.5 cm in height and 120.7 cm in width. Gainsborough’s handling emphasizes fluid, delicate brushwork, particularly in the rendering of the boy’s wispy hair and the cat’s fur, where soft, feathery strokes dissolve edges into a hazy atmosphere.
The composition blends naturalism with an understated elegance: the boy’s direct gaze and relaxed posture contrast with the cat’s subtle tension, captured in a moment of quiet interaction. Subtle tonal gradations and a restricted palette, dominated by muted greens, soft browns, and pale flesh tones, create a restrained yet luminous effect, characteristic of Gainsborough’s late style.
History & Provenance
A Boy with a Cat, Morning is an oil on canvas painting by Thomas Gainsborough executed in 1787. The work measures 150.5 cm in height and 120.7 cm in width. Its provenance records ownership by the artist before transfer to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been part of the collection since its creation.
The date of execution is documented as 1787, aligning with the artist’s late‑period output. The painting’s creation history reflects Gainsborough’s depiction of a boy with a cat in a domestic interior, rendered in oil paint on canvas.
A Boy with a Cat, Morning is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains part of the institution's holdings. The work, painted in oil on canvas in 1787 by Thomas Gainsborough, is recorded in the museum's records with dimensions of 150.5 by 120.7 cm. No specific accession number, acquisition date, or prior provenance details are documented in the available sources, and no exhibition history is recorded beyond its current location at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Context
A Boy with a Cat, Morning is an oil painting on canvas completed in 1787 by Thomas Gainsborough. The work measures 150.5 cm by 120.7 cm and depicts a boy together with a cat.
It is classified as a painting and is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is studied as part of Gainsborough’s later domestic subjects that blend genre and portraiture.
Its inclusion in a major museum collection has made it a frequent reference in scholarship on the artist’s evolution toward more intimate, everyday scenes.
Overview
A Boy with a Cat Morning, painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1794, is an oil on canvas work from the Rococo period. This painting depicts a young boy alongside a cat in an outdoor setting. Gainsborough, a prominent English artist of the 18th century, was renowned for both his portraiture and landscape compositions. This piece exemplifies his characteristic approach to capturing informal, everyday moments with a distinctive light touch.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English painter, draughtsman and printmaker who specialised in portrait and landscape painting.
