2-996-943 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Dire qu'Arsionoé n'était pas contente d'être portraiturée..., 1844. Man with feather duster looking at bust (of his wife?) crowned with laurel wreath: 'As if it weren't enough for Arsinoe to have her portrait done'. Satirical criticism of 'bluestockings': women with interests beyond housework and childcare. Female authors were often depicted as mannish and ugly - the implication being that their intellectual output was just as objectionable as their looks. From Les Bas-bleus, no. 12.