Ernst Josephson, Swedish
Edith Was Fond of Talking To Her Plants, But Mostly She Just Listened, 1883
Oil on canvas
Follow That Is Priceless on Social Media and GoComics (the Link button):
Click to Follow This Blog or Share This Masterpiece:
THROWBACK THURSDAY: MASTERPIECE #2218 (6/7/19)
/// Jeanette Rubenson posed for this piece.
She’s the wife of the Chief of Police.
And yet colors run riot—
her ensemble’s not quiet.
It appears that she dressed by caprice.
/// As she sits amid plants and crochets,
she displays a bemused, far-off gaze.
Wearing objects of gold,
she rejects Stockholm’s cold.
Not for her, Scandinavian grays.
/// Meanwhile, painter Ernst must deal with fears
which will grow until, in a few years
he begins acting strange
(and his whole style will change)
as a dreaded disease reappears.
/// In his twenties, the artist had not
always taken the care that he ought
to avoid and reject
pleasures which could infect.
It was syphilis which he had caught.
/// As the spirochete poisoned his mind,
Josephson had been briefly confined.
But we ought not suspect
that his “touch” would infect
Mrs. Rubenson; that thought’s unkind.
/// Among the odd manifestations
of the illness were hallucinations
and delusions which spread
through the man’s addled head,
yet they led to artistic creations.