Study for the Madonna of the Cat

{{short description|Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci}}

{{Infobox artwork

| title = Study for the Madonna of the Cat

| painting_alignment =

| other_language_1 = it

| other_title_1 = Studio per la madonna del gatto

| other_language_2 =

| other_title_2 =

| wikidata = Q11765908

| image =

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption =

| artist = Leonardo da Vinci

| year = {{circa|1478–1481}}

| catalogue =

| medium = pen and brown ink, on a preparatory drawing in stylus, with a brown wash on the back

| movement =

| subject =

| height_metric = 13

| width_metric = 9.4

| metric_unit = cm

| designation =

| condition =

| museum = British Museum

| city = London

| accession = 1856,0621.1

| module =

| website = [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1856-0621-1 https://www.britishmuseum.org/]

}}

Study for the Madonna of the Cat is a set of two drawings by Leonardo da Vinci on both sides (front and back) of a sheet of paper 13 centimeters high and 9.4 centimeters wide. The two drawings were made in pen and brown ink, on a preparatory drawing in stylus, with a brown wash on the back. This is one of the six works of Leonardo da Vinci showing the Virgin and Child playing with a cat or carrying it. A mirror symmetry between the drawings of the two faces is visible by transparency. The Study for the Madonna of the Cat is currently held at the British Museum in London under inventory number 1856,0621.1.{{Cite web|url=https://www.foglidarte.it/il-rinascimento-oggi/423-leonardo-da-vinci-e-la-madonna-del-gatto-quando-il-fine-giustifica-i-mezzi.html|title=Leonardo da Vinci e la "Madonna del gatto": quando il fine giustifica i mezzi.|date=2014-10-26|website=foglidarte.it|language=it|access-date=2018-12-27}}{{British-Museum-db|The British Museum Database|717278}} The creative and scientific processes underlying the drawing Madonna of the Cat have been discussed by many art historians, including Kenneth Clark, Martin Kemp, Carmen Bambach and Larry Feinberg.{{cite book|last=Feinberg|first=Larry J.|title=The young Leonardo: art and life in fifteenth-century Florence|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1107002395|pages=89–97|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/young-leonardo/madonna-of-the-cat/885E059677F9D7EE145B7B772C6C5A9A|chapter=The Madonna of the Cat}} {{cite book|title=Leonardo da Vinci: An Account of his development as an Artist|first=Kenneth|last=Clark|author-link=Kenneth Clark|publisher=Penguin Books|edition=Revised|year=1988|isbn=978-0-141-98237-3|series=Pelican|url=https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci0000kenn|pages=30–33}}{{cite book|editor-first=Carmen C.|editor-last=Bambach|editor-link=Carmen Bambach|title=Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=1588390349|year=2003

|url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll10/id/90258|first=Martin|last=Kemp|author-link=Martin Kemp (art historian)|chapter=Drawing the boundaries|pages=141–154}}{{cite book|first1=Carmen C.|last1=Bambach|author1-link=Carmen Bambach|first2=Françoise|last2= Viatte|title=Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=1588390349|year=2003

|url=https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15324coll10/id/90258|pages=291–306, 631–633}}

{{gallery

| title =

|align=left

|mode=packed

|height= 280

|width=

|File:Leonardo da Vinci, Study for the Madonna of the Cat (recto).jpg

|recto

|alt1=recto

|File:Leonardo da Vinci, Study for the Madonna of the Cat (verso) (cropped).jpg

|verso

|alt2=verso}}

{{clear}}