Louis Wain Fact #76:
Prince, a black Persian, was seemingly a cherished possession of the Shah of Persia and was taken from the palace by a servant who had been bribed with the sum of £100 by an American lady. The cat was then declared to be lost, before the truth leaked out, and the servant was allegedly beheaded. He was then given to Wain by his American owners for some unknown good deed.
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On loan from the Bethlem Royal Hospital, catalogued by Patricia Allderidge.
108. GINGER CAT
Coloured pencil on paper
Inscribed on verso: F. Deuxbery, Mr. Louis Wain. Sept 1931
Date: September 1931
10" x 7"
The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital Health Authority (Guttman-Maclay Collection)
This picture was drawn at Napsbury Hospital where the previous owner, Mr Deuxbery, was one of the nurses who looked after Wain. The background is presumably an example of the 'wallpaper patterns', so-called by the staff of Napsbury: in the early 30s Wain is said to have stopped drawing cats at all for a while, and drawn only these patterns, though he soon returned to cats.