Adriaan de Lelie and Willem van Leen, Dutch
In His Advanced Age Nathaniel’s Eyesight Had Begun To Fail, But Luckily He Hadn’t Lost His Herring, 1815
Oil on canvas
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Info, or links that point to more info, about the first artist can be found here, here (Google translated), and here, perhaps in addition to what's in his Wikipedia page (Google translated Dutch Wikipedia page may have more). Info, or links that point to more info, about the second artist can be found here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), and here, perhaps in addition to what's in his Wikipedia page.
/// “Do you think anybody supposes
that the secret to growing our roses
is fish, buried below
every bush, row by row,
and to find them we follow our noses?”
/// It’s a trick that the Pilgrims were taught—
fertilizing with fish that they caught.
In New Amsterdam, Dutch
farmers learned this and much
more. Those secrets to Holland were brought.
/// Meneer Marinus, all afternoon,
watched his wife form a floral festoon.
He would help decorate,
stringing fish from his plate,
which he’d caught in the nearby lagoon.
/// His good wife knew Marinus meant well.
Flower allergies put him through hell.
He’s planning on wearing
a garland of herring,
counteracting the vile floral smell.
/// As both odors pervaded the room,
their young son could sense oncoming doom.
Soon, with fish, (rotten flesh),
flowers three weeks from fresh
would combine to smell just like a tomb.