Medieval cat owners – they’re just like us! How do we know? Fine art tells us, of course!
The Walters Art Museum has proof in their new exhibition, Paws on Parchment, which opened August 6 and runs through February 22, 2026. That’s right, Lady Alviva and Lord Edric were as obsessed with their felines as we are today, evidenced by the four-legged appearances in medieval manuscripts and art.
Cats were not only known for warming themselves in our laps and interfering with our work schedules in the 15th century, however. They also had important jobs that benefited the humans they permitted to serve them, like acting as hunters that chased vermin away from valuable books, textiles, and food. They also generously protected humans from these disease-carrying rodents.
The Paws on Parchment exhibition has proof that cats walked across people’s desks at work in the 1400s, too.
“Most notably, visitors can see real pawprints left by a cat walking across the pages of a Flemish manuscript as the ink dried in the 1470s,” reads the Walters website. “A handful of these ‘pawprint’ manuscripts are known around the world, and this is the first time the Walters’ example will ever be shown.”
An actual “keyboard cat!”
In medieval times, owning a pet upon which one lavished attention and high-quality food could also be a signifier of high status. Those in the nobility often had their portraits completed with their pets in the picture (mostly cats and dogs, but sometimes a monkey if one was particularly wealthy) to show off their elevated status. Cats would be brought cheese as treats, and scholars sometimes wrote eulogies about them.
So truly, our obsession with and doting over our precious cats is nothing mew.
The Paws on Parchment exhibition is located in the Centre Street Building, Level 3, Medieval Gallery of the Walters Art Museum, which is located at 600 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD.
