2-998-388 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Le Bas-bleu déclamant sa pièce, 1844. 'Acte sixième, premier tableau...le théâtre représente un tigre endormi dans le désert...Rosalba s'avance en se traînant avec peine et en traînant avec plus de peine encore ses cinq enfans et son vieux père; - Rosalba tombe au pied d'un dattier couvert de noix de cocos et s'écrie avec désespoir: O ciel quand finiront nos tourmens!'...Tous les auditeurs (A voix basse) 'et les nôtres quand donc finiront-ils, o ciel!...'. The Bluestocking reading aloud her play - 'Act Six, first scene...on stage is a sleeping tiger in the desert...Rosalba advances, dragging herself with difficulty and dragging with even more difficulty her five children and her old father; - Rosalba falls at the foot of a date palm covered with coconuts and cries out in despair: O heaven, when will our torments end!...' All the listeners (under their breath): 'and ours, when will they end, o heaven!...'. 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. Series: Les Bas-bleus, no. 22; Periodical: Le Charivari, 10 April 1844.