• lol badge

17 Classic Works Of Art Improved By A Fat Ginger Cat

Via Russian artist Svetlana Petrova and her feline muse, Zarathustra.

Zarathrustra is a very artistic cat. He belongs to Russian artist Svetlana Petrova, who recreates classic artworks to feature her big, ginger pet.

She tells the BBC: "I lost my mother in 2008 and she left me Zarathustra. I got horrible depression after her death and for two years I was unable to do something creative. By chance a friend asked me 'why don't you make an art project with your cat because he's so funny'."

Svetlana was happy for us to use these images, but she asked for Zarathustra to be credited as co-author. We are happy to oblige.

1. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

2. Willem Claesz Heda's Breakfast With Crab.

3. Venus of Urbino by Titian.

4. Michaelangelo's The Creation of Adam, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

5. The bottom bit of Raphael's "Sistine Madonna" from the Sistine Chapel.

6. Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory.

7. The Tower of Babel, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

8. Venus and Cupid Stealing the Honey by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

9. Piero della Francesca's Portrait of the Duke of Urbino.

10. Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (or as you know it, the one with the shark)

There is a bonus GIF for this one.

11. Katsushika Hoksukai's The Great Wave off Kangawa.

12. Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps.

13. Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People.

14. The Three Graces, by Rubens.

15. Monet's Haystacks at Giverny.

16. Grant Wood's American Gothic.

17. A reworking of Shephard Fairey's famous "Hope" portrait of Barack Obama.

Svetlana's work is appearing at Russian Extremes - From Icons to I-Cats runs at The Barn at Stonehill House, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, from 31 May to 5 June.