March 23, 1874

J. C. Leyendecker, (March 23, 1874 to July 25, 1951) was a major American commercial artist, although he was born in Germany; his family emigrated to the US in 1882. His Saturday Evening Post covers were justly famous, though his output for this magazine declined in the 1930s, coinciding with the debut of Norman Rockwell. His art was inside magazines also, in commerical renderings. He is said to have popularized that dreadful fat white man in a red suit, for holiday scenes.

And this is one of his cat depictions






There is a biographical sketch of Leyendecker here, which makes the point that Leyendecker was Rockwell's hero, which makes sense. But nobody has topped Leyendecker for felines.