Artistic Catsdetails

Three groups of cats are in this engraving. THe left-most pair are wearing human clothing and standing upright. In the centre, one cat is dressed as an artist, and is using a paintbrush and pallette, painting the stripes onto the other cat. The right-most cat is admiring itself in the mirror. One could read this as a story: the cat on the left being invited to disrobe to be painted, then being painted, then finally admiring the effect.

The artist cat sits on a book, The Theory of Color. The spelling suggests an American artist, but the design is unsigned.