Although it bears the artist's signature and the date 1745, it has been thought to be a later imitation of Perronneau, because of some uncertainty in the treatment of the anatomy and an excess of that charm associated with 18th-century French portraits of children. It may, however, be an original. The girl, who has not been identified, has been posed by the artist, and the kitten by the girl; the apparent naturalness of the portrait is dependent on artifice. A cat is sometimes included in portraits of children as a symbol of the wildness of nature intruding upon the innocence of childhood. [https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/probably-by-jean-baptiste-perronneau-a-girl-with-a-kitten]