William Powell Frith, English
The Artist, Wondering If Maybe His Story About Seeing Monet At His Gym Wasn’t As Fascinating As He Thought It Was, 1853
Oil on canvas
Follow That Is Priceless on Social Media and GoComics (the Link button):
Click to Follow This Blog or Share This Masterpiece:
Info, or links that point to more info (especially the last here link), about this artist can be found here, here (archived if necessary), here, here, here, here (archived if necessary), here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, here (archived if necessary), here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// Painter Frith, as he walked down the street.
asked an “orange-girl” fresh-faced and sweet,
“Be my model; it’s easy.”
But she feared it was sleazy.
“No, you’ll be fully clothed in a seat.”
/// She considered his pitch with suspicion,
but might pose for him, on one condition.
She’s a good Catholic lass
who attends daily Mass.
Frith must go to her priest for permission.
/// When the priest refused, Clodagh resisted,
but Frith, charmed by her smile, still persisted.
He convinced her, at last,
but that smile quickly passed.
She got bored; fell asleep, slumped and twisted.
/// She’d nod off at the drop of a hat,
as she posed in the chair where she sat.
From the fruit tightly gripped
sticky orange juice dripped,
then she woke when it fell with a splat.
/// Clodagh “modeled.” The sole reason why
is that William agreed he would buy
all her oranges first.
They were awful, the worst
fruit he’d tasted— too sour and dry.
/// The girl mannequin Clodagh replaced
never moved, (though it had to be braced).
Still, the artist preferred
living models which stirred
creativity, when flesh he faced.
/// Clodagh’s one model Frith didn’t take
to his bed. It would be a mistake.
His lust he cannot slake,
because she will not wake.
Could it be the girl’s “coma” is fake?