Antique Cat Painting "Cat with Butterfly in a Meadow" 
Arthur Heyer 1872-1931
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right "Heyer A." 
25 1/2 x 21 (29 1/4 x 33 1/2 frame) inches
 
From 1890 to 1895 Arthur Heyer studied at the Unterrichtsanstalt des Kunstgewerbemuseums in Berlin, where he was a student of the history painter Max Friedrich Koch.  During this time Heyer's first drawings were published in various newspapers, such as the satirical magazine 'Berliner Wespen'. 
 
During study trips to Transylvania, he became acquainted with the Hungarian culture and eventually settled in Budapest in 1896.  Here Heyer exhibited his works for the first time in 1906, more exhibitions followed, for instance at the Vienna Künstlerhaus and in the Glaspalast in Munich, 1909 in the Grand Ducal Museum Weimar, 1911 award of the Count Andrássy Prize, 1915 appointment as professor.
 
Whereas his early creative period was defined by satirical drawings, Heyer later primarily created paintings of animals, especially lovely lifelike representations of cats.
 
Sources:
Benezit. Dictionnaire des Peitnres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs
Hook & Poltimore, Popular 19th Century Painting
Thieme/Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstle