Nicolas-René Jollain, French
“Not That I’m Complaining, My Lady, But When You Said You Needed Help With Your ‘Toilet,’ I Kinda Thought I Was Coming Up Here To Jiggle a Handle,” ca. 1780
Oil on copper
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here (if truncated, can be read in full for Free on Fridays), here, and here (says his name was Jean-René, not Nicolas-René), perhaps in addition to his Wikipedia page (Google translated French Wikipedia page has more).
/// Marie-Virginie’s maid gets her dressed,
and her sly little smile would suggest
that that right elbow’s friction
has aroused an addiction
to be nude and unchastely caressed.
/// And the lady’s-maid certainly knows
she must help her don layers of clothes.
The Toilet would take
half the morning to make;
(no one else knows where everything goes).
/// Here, “the toilet” would mean getting groomed.
Also bathed, dressed and maybe perfumed.
Our porcelain “throne”
in those days wasn’t known,
therefore flushing should not be assumed.
/// A man’s portrait hangs on the back wall,
well positioned to look down on all.
The two eye-holes cut through
would allow a good view.
(Holes their handyman worked to install.)
/// This young woman’s a “Lady of Leisure,”
who is thinking now only of pleasure.
The girl’s brain is too small
to hold big thoughts at all;
her IQ is too tiny to measure.