Best of friends 

Curator: Oh, how tender. There's a strange intimacy emanating from this painting. Editor: Yes, Jules-Frédéric Ballavoine, it looks like, offers us here in oil paint what he titles "Best of Friends." While the exact date of its creation remains a mystery, the style positions it within the realm of Romanticism. Curator: Romantic indeed. Immediately, I’m drawn to the figures: a fair-skinned young woman holding a fluffy tabby cat. It seems such a commonplace tableau, and yet it evokes powerful notions of compassion. Is the woman supposed to represent a virtue, like Charity? Editor: Perhaps. One could argue the composition, with its tender depiction of interspecies affection, challenges anthropocentric worldviews. Who benefits most from that intimacy, after all? Is it the woman or the cat, who looks... less than enthralled? Curator: (chuckles) I hadn't noticed that initially. The cat’s expression is rather sour! I still want to come back to this friendship depicted and explore what that might represent in our understanding of ourselves. The painting creates, intentionally or not, what almost seems like a secular Madonna figure, in the tradition of many paintings throughout the centuries depicting maternal love. The innocent look in the woman's eyes, the gentle hold – those resonate beyond the everyday, wouldn't you agree? Editor: I agree to an extent. It echoes familiar imagery of idealised femininity and the historical taming— or some might argue, the entrapment—of women within domesticity. A woman’s tenderness extended not towards her offspring but a pet – it becomes another form of self-regulation. Curator: Hmm... Perhaps. What if we consider this from the animal's perspective, then? Its status as a ‘pet’ reveals complex power dynamics, yes, but the act of embracing, of loving something outside ourselves, does that carry meaning that exceeds power structures and oppression? I wonder if it gives us access to new emotional landscapes and relationships beyond just the human condition? Editor: Well, the sour-puss cat does throw a wrench in such idealism. He might symbolize something we miss in those idyllic visions! Still, it is certainly a beautiful rendering and an important work to prompt these discussions. Curator: A sentiment I wholeheartedly share. It provides a lovely lens for reflection and introspection about human connection with each other, and the animals that share our world.