Jan Adam Kruseman, Dutch
“Yep, You’re in the Right Place. We Are Indeed the Royal Swingers Club of the Greater Netherlands. We’re Just Taking Care of Some Paperwork Before We Get Started. Go Ahead and Strip Down To Your Clogs,” 1834-35
Oil on canvas
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here (archived if necessary), or here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page (Google translated Dutch Wikipedia page has more).
/// With three regents sit three regentesses
of the Amsterdam lepers’ house. Stress is
not perceived in their looks,
as they “balance” the books.
Are they making a profit? Two guesses.
/// There are satisfied smiles on their faces
as the board members go through their paces.
Did they have expertise
about Hansen’s disease?
Did they know much about treating cases?
/// It was thought, back then, highly contagious.
Those who doctored the lepers— courageous.
Lepers must be confined.
(Out of sight, out of mind.)
Would these six pay a visit? Outrageous!
/// So, I wonder just what regents did
for the lepers, aside to forbid
them to dwell among us.
Did some put up a fuss
when informed they must live “off the grid”?
/// Their smug “holier than thou art” looks,
aren’t proof that these regents are crooks.
It’s the funds which they claim
go toward “healing the lame”
which, to me, show they’re cooking the books.
/// I’ve some fears those who research may find
that these six (who were real) I’ve maligned.
I (in fairness) confess:
what I wrote was a guess
from expressions about states of mind.