# The Monkey and the Cat

- By: Abraham Hondius (Dutch, c. 1625–1695)
- Date: probably 1670s
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 80 x 93.5 x 6 cm (31 1/2 x 36 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 62.2 x 73.7 cm (24 1/2 x 29 in.)
- Culture: Netherlands
- Credit line: Gift of The Butkin Foundation
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1979.82)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1979.82/1979.82_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This picture interprets one of Aesop’s ancient Greek fables (or probably the more contemporary interpretation by Jean de la Fontaine, even more famous at the time), which warns of the dangers of flattery. A monkey sweet-talks a cat into pulling scalding chestnuts out of the fire. The cat finishes the risky and painful task to discover that the monkey has already gobbled up nearly all of them.