International Cat Day, Leopard letter

 

I missed International Cat day by a month on August 8.

Celebrating cats should be an everyday event.

Yesterday I visited the Menagerie de Jardins des Plantes for the first time though it’s close to my house. Home to 500 residents (in French they are called pensionnaires!).

It is one of the oldest zoos in Europe, opened in 1794 after the French Revolution as a place for scientific study. 

A print of a 19th century London zoo with attendees running in fear of escaped kangaroos. Too whimsical not to include non?

 

Les artistes animalistes flocked to draw and study at the Menagerie. 

Delacroix was probably among them, though he did many preparatory drawings from domestic cats. 

Its easy to wander aimlessly. Finally a sign said les Fauverie

Watch the big cats in Films

The big cats were in the back. 

They were renovating the dens. Evidently big cats 🐆 enjoy batting a ball of ‘yarn’ as much as any pet kitten. 

I had to ask the staff,”Well where are the cats?” Grrrr I couldn’t see a thing. Were they still on vacance like most Parisians? She pointed. 

The leopard was well camouflaged. Rather aloof.

Fortunately the snow panther was more sociable. 

What a beauty. Breathtaking. Forget Mona Lisa and Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a pearl’. 

To see these living, breathing mysterious creatures is life-changing. It’s incomprehensible how they’ve been diminished because of their fur. *Larger animals like elephants 🐘 lions 🦁 & gorillas 🦍 are no longer kept captive in the Paris menagerie. Nor are new animals bought or sold. They are exchanged with other European zoos. 

The Menagerie at Jardins des Plantes may not be on your Paris ‘bucket list’ but reconsider. What a thrilling experience.

 What to wear? Animal prints of course. 

Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. 

Please share & do stop in my etsy shop for Paris watercolors & letters. 💌

Tomorrow I am off to Alsace for a weekend of serious jam research 🔍 tbc.