What if Narcissus had a cat?

The answer to this extremely important question was given by the genius Renaissance painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Us, Zarathustra the Cat, in the true version of the «Narcissus» masterpiece:

Caravaggio, Narcissus and His Cat

Let’s talk about the myth first:

The story of Narcissus appears in Book III of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The son of the nymph Liriope and the river god Cephisus, Narcissus possessed extraordinary beauty, yet his pride and cold-heartedness made him indifferent to the feelings of others. He rejected every admirer who fell in love with him, including the unfortunate nymph Echo, who had been cursed to repeat only the final words spoken by others.

To punish Narcissus for his cruelty, the goddess Nemesis condemned him to fall in love with his own reflection in a pond. Narcissus, unaware of the deception, remained spellbound staring at his double, unable to touch him or return his affection. Consumed by obsession and pain, he allowed himself to die.

What a dreadful story, typical of the egoistic, self-obsessed humans, thought Caravaggio, and invited Us to pose for the painting that should become a challenge to the commonly known tale:

Caravaggio, Narcissus and His Cat, close-up

Yes, Narcissus is finally going to touch his love, his adorable ginger cat, and kiss his fluffy, delightfully smelling forehead and his wet pink nose!

Caravaggio, Narcissus and His Cat, close-up

The Cat, in his turn, is going to return Narcissus’s affection, ehm, uhm, somehow

The theatrical, totally Baroque response of the Cat is caused by His unrequited and definitely non-platonic affection for the fishie in the pond:

Caravaggio, Narcissus and His Cat, fishy detail

Caught up in His profound feelings by his emotionally overloaded human, the Cat gently but firmly asks Narcissus to wait with his kisses and belly rubs until the fishie goes closer.

Caravaggio, Narcissus and His Cat, detail

Every cat servant knows this kind of response when their master is brutally distracted from his important tasks like napping or bird watching by tons of unexpected tickles and kisses!

Come on, Narcissus, just wait for it; the fishie will return to the pond’s depths, and you’ll get all the attention of your feline master!

You see, it’s much more intricate drama and play of the reflections in chiaroscuro, and an evident hope on the top of this in the true version of the masterpiece, if to be compared with the commonly known one, to be seen in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy:

Caravaggio, Narcissus in the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica

Now you can see the hidden meaning of the painting: Narcissus is actually looking for his kitty! He’s already searched the whole house, then ran to the pond in a panic, afraid the cat would drown while playing with the fish! «Where is my cat?» Narcissus asks the deep waters, trembling. Don’t panic, Narcissus, cats don’t have a habit of plunging into the water! Just go back to the house, open your wardrobe, and find your kitty peacefully napping on the pile of freshly washed sheets!