Henri-Joseph Boichard, French
“Madam, Please Do Me the Honor of Accepting This Offering In Exchange For Your Daughter’s Hand. I Assume You’re Good With Laundromat Tokens?,” 1827
Oil on canvas
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found at his French Wikipedia page (Google translated if necessary).
/// Pierre T., Chevalier de Bayard
was a French knight and true superstar.
Called “the knight without fear;”
had in battle no peer;
unreproachable— set a high bar.
/// Loyal, moral and wise, tales relate.
Even enemies viewed him as great.
The epitome of
selfless chivalric love,
(you would think he’d be easy to hate.)
/// In this painting Boyard famously
displayed how generous he could be.
Badly wounded, Pierre,
needed medical care.
He was nursed in their home by these three.
/// The mother with gold coins had paid
him a ransom to come to their aid
and provide them protection.
As he fought off infection,
her two daughters sang, charmed him and prayed.
/// Healed, he heard of a nearby attack.
Before leaving, in thanks he gave back
to the daughters the gold,
and Bayard was extolled
for largess by their Mom dressed in black.
/// Bayard longed to get back to the fight,
but to leave these girls poor wasn’t right.
All the ransom they’d paid he returned to each maid.
To “The Good Knight” they all said “Goodnight.”