The Well-Bred Cat: Lisa Zador's Folio of Fabulous Felines Hardcover - 2002

From the publisher

Lisa Zador is no ordinary painter of animals. Although her enchanting animal portraits take their cue from Old Masters, these oil paintings always demonstrate her own sure-handed technique and transcend parody and sentimentality. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes melancholy, and sometimes outlandish, Zador's cat portraits are a delight - not just to cat fanciers but also to connoisseurs of the art of the portrait. Unlike many painters, Zador works from live subjects - cats she knows and befriends - to produce portraits that convey the personalities of the subjects, albeit clothed in artistic or historical costume. In this beautifully designed gift book, Zador has gathered a gallery of twenty pure- and mixed-breed cats. Each portrait is accompanied by a hilarious text about the subject, offering each cat the sort of magnificent life we all secretly imagine for our pets. Samantha, for example, who is only shown from the head-and-shoulders view because - let's face it - she has a bit of a weight problem, a sad admission noted by the once-irresistible feline fatale, whose exploits as a secret agent, it is said, fashioned the basis for the espionage classic You Only Live Nine Times.