An illustrated history of the ways cats have been seen through different eyes. Once a sacred animal and now a household pet, the cat has been an important part of human culture for thousands of years. From ancient paintings, to Velasquez and the 19th-century masters, artists have sought to capture the essence of the cat in all its guises, as icon, hunter and pet, while cats have also regularly cropped up in illustrations to folk tales and fairy stories. These images are collected here with explanatory text, plus poems and prose.