Tito Conti, Italian
The Day Had Finally Come. Wendy Had Given In and Agreed To Get Glasses. Just As Soon As She Dropped This Letter In The Mailbox, 1876
Oil on panel
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here (archived if necessary), here, here, and here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// It was vital that no one discover
the notes Gina hid here high above her.
Break its scarlet wax seal,
billet-doux would reveal
that the upstairs maid was Gina’s lover.
/// The girls’ trysts had been furtive and rare.
Through these notes they arranged when and where.
With The Secret Postbox
they both hoped to outfox
Gina’s mother, who’d banned their affair.
/// Gina’s maid used to “help with her toilet.”
Mother caught them one day. Vowed to spoil it.
What the maid did while dressing
Gina, Mom found distressing.
Maid’s demotion was planned just to foil it.
/// Now no longer G’s personal maid,
in her new job she’s far underpaid.
Mother thought she would quit,
(putting an end to it),
but this servant she could not dissuade.
/// Barred from speaking, the girls contrived ways
to communicate using the vase
which held twelve peacock plumes.
As she cleaned upstairs rooms,
Serafina planned sweet matinees.
/// Gina’s mother had no hesitation
in denouncing her daughter’s flirtation.
That for girls her girl yearned
didn’t make her concerned.
“Serafina’s beneath Gina’s station!”