Jacob Adriaensz Backer, Dutch
“There, I Think I’ve Now Managed To Shake All the Pizza Crumbs Off My Collar. You May Resume. And Maybe Next Time We Don’t Break For Lunch Until After,” 1636
Oil on canvas
Follow That Is Priceless on Social Media and GoComics (the Link button):
Click to Follow This Blog or Share This Masterpiece:
/// Heavy clothing makes most people sweat.
If you wear a thick ruff, it gets wet.
From her face we can tell
she’s annoyed by a smell.
She needs all the perfume she can get.
/// It’s a month ‘til her she takes her next bath.
Body odors fuel fear, shame, and wrath.
Dutch seem gloomy. You think
it could be they all stink?
Back then bathing was rare— do the math.
/// Full immersion in water was seen
as a way to get sick, not get clean.
Chamber pots don’t smell sweet
and manure lined each street.
They were not that hung up on hygiene.
/// It is slimming and makes her look nice,
but when crossing a river think twice.
If her ruff blocks her sight,
she could fall in and might
need a ruffled flotation device.