Philippe-Jacques van Bree, Belgian
“So Tell Me. What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Genre Painting Like This?,” 1861
Oil on panel
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here (if truncated, can be read in full for free on Fridays), perhaps in addition to what's in his Wikipedia page (Google translated French Wikipedia page has more).
/// They both thought of the taverner’s daughter
as a lovely young lamb to the slaughter.
They were vulgar and rude
when she brought them their food,
and enraged when for drink she poured water.
/// One leered, “Girl, come and see my Big Tip!” /
While the other implored her to strip.
They slandered her service,
but what made her nervous
was the threat to return with a whip.
/// Through it all she was coy and demure.
She knew well how to handle a boor.
She stayed silent and shy
and would not meet their eye,
for she’d sprinkled their stew with manure.
/// Suave Aramis had drunk to his fill,
meanwhile Porthos (in mufti) was still
flirting with the cute wench,
while inside, by the bench,
tipsy Athos was stuck with the bill.