How 42 lovers of an American millionaire fit into one picture

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The painting by Austrian artist Karl Kahler "My Wife's Lovers", sold in 2015 at Sotheby's in New York for $ 826,000, has been named. She rightfully claims such a magnificent title - the largest number of tailed pets in one picture, huge sizes, because all the cats are depicted on it on a larger scale than natural, and the work weighs more than 100 kilograms, as well as a record high price for the canvas of this famous artist - animalist. The name, invented by the customer's husband, has continued to cause smiles for more than 100 years, because even today cats for many ladies remain the only but passionate love - regardless of whether they are millionaires.

Karl Kahler had a rather winding creative path. After graduating from the Academy of Arts in Munich in 1874, the young painter first exhibited in the best galleries in Europe - Berlin, Munich and Vienna, but then emigrated to Australia. The main theme of his work at that time was horses. The artist equally well managed to convey the intensity of passions prevailing at the races and the beauty of noble animals. However, after painting three films about the Melbourne Cup, Kahler emigrated to America. There, in 1891, he met Kate Birdsell Johnson.

The Johnson couple lived near San Francisco on the Buena Vista estate. This estate was the oldest winery in California. At the end of the 19th century, production here had not been carried out for a long time, but the spouses, having remade the house for their convenience, decided to leave the old presses and all equipment just out of love for rarities. Interestingly, thanks to this, in the 20th century, the winery was reopened, and it still works. However, Kate's husband died, and the 60-year-old millionaire lived in a huge estate alone. True, her loneliness was brightened up by about 50 tailed pets. Cats have been a woman's passion for many decades. The late husband jokingly called them "my wife's lovers."

The artist, having stayed at Buena Vista for a bit, planned to go further, he was attracted by the waterfalls of Yosemite National Park. However, it seems that he succumbed to the incredible charm of the main inhabitants of the estate, and, unexpectedly for himself, agreed to this adventure - to paint a giant group portrait, which would depict all of Kate's favorites. It is known that until this moment Kaler had never drawn cats. Probably, the high fee also played a role, but, one way or another, the artist stayed in this house for two long years, it took him so much time to work on an unprecedented canvas. Sketches and elaboration of the character of each animal, separate portraits for some, especially outstanding ones - Karl Kahler did a great job, and thanks to this, you can look at the picture endlessly.

Each of the cats on it has its own character, its own mood. It seems that the whole composition is in motion, because it is impossible to keep the animal in place, so all the characters on it are busy with something. Only one handsome mustachioed man is really posing, around which the composition is being built. This is the pride of the owner, the cat Sultan. It was bought for three thousand dollars, an incredible amount in those days. By the way, the fee for painting the picture was 5 thousand. It is believed that a total of 42 cats are depicted on the canvas. If you wish, you can check this figure, they say that some tailed beasts are not so easy to find, so perhaps this is also a prototype of the computer game "Find a Cat".

Exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the painting made a splash. The gigantic canvas attracted crowds of spectators and caused numerous responses in the newspapers. The name, which Kate gave to the work in memory of her beloved husband, added zest to the work and continues to cause smiles to this day. However, having immortalized her favorites, the owner of the painting died in December of the same year. After her death, they began to write simply fantastic facts about her - that, allegedly, several hundred cats lived in the estate, and after the death of the millionaire she bequeathed all her money to them. It is possible that the plot of the Disney cartoon "Aristocratic Cats" is based on echoes of these rumors. Kate really took care of the fate of her "lovers", but everything was much easier. After the death of the mistress, 32 cats lived in the estate. Some of them were given to the new owners, and the rest moved to the house of a distant relative of the Jones, who received 20 thousand dollars by will (according to our times, this amount corresponds to half a million). With this money, the woman created very good conditions for the cats, albeit not imperial, but very good conditions. Most of the inheritance went to the Catholic Church to open a hospital in the city "for all sick poor women and children, regardless of religion, nationality and skin color." This medical institution, by the way, still exists.

But the fate of the picture was much more interesting. It was acquired in 1894 by art dealer Ernest Aket for his new establishment. The Palace of Arts was an unusual combination of a café and an art gallery, and My Wife's Lovers became the star of the show. In 1906, San Francisco was at the epicenter of a massive earthquake. It was then that the creator of the painting, Karl Kahler, tragically died, the gallery in which the canvas hung was burned down, but the painting itself survived. Considering its enormous weight and size, this seems like a real miracle. Then the canvas changed owners several times and was exhibited in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago and Detroit. Probably, the transportation of the painting each time caused certain difficulties, because even at the last auction in 2015, a special wall had to be erected for its exposition, which could withstand a considerable weight. Interestingly, in the 1940s, the painting was shown at a major cat show in Madison Square Garden. According to eyewitnesses, the work of art then overshadowed the "living exhibits". The canvas attracted huge crowds of spectators, it again became a popular topic for newspaper publications, and, in addition, about 9 thousand reproductions were sold.

One of these copies played a role in the further fate of the picture. The current owner of the canvas, who bought it at the auction, did not give his name, but did give interesting details. A copy of The Lovers was once bought by him at the same exhibition as a gift to his mother. The old woman liked the picture with the cats so much that it hung over her bed until the end of her days. Now, having financial resources, this man decided to purchase the original painting in memory of his mother, therefore, perhaps, the auction sales reached an amount three times higher than the pre-sale forecasts. After all, when it comes to real feelings, money becomes secondary.