The French Mademoiselle
I did not find this portrait in France. I found it inside a very small knick-knack shop in Northern California. A dealer of teacups and saucers, she had purchased an entire estate. The dealer told me that the *portraits were discovered under the stalls of a chicken coop! Talk about a golden egg! The dealer chuckled, "Yes the Rembrandt’s were getting pooped on! Isn’t she a divine and get a load of her partner, with his big fat wig! Imagine putting them in these, ugly-gold-painted-metal-tin-frames!" Not saying a word about what I knew to be not true, I gently hand-carried my purchases, to my nest in France.
The frames are not made of tin: 18th century, hand carved wooden frames, gilded details of carved acorns and rosettes. Mademoiselle de la Chicken Coop, has had me guessing for years, Who is she?!
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One day I happened to see her exact image, on a book cover! What joy was mine! Quickly, I went to open the door of the bookshop, only to see a sign saying: "CLOSED, will return in two weeks."
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When I returned to the bookshop several weeks later, they had moved the book! The shop-keeper looking at me perplexed, as I tried to describe the cover of the book, "Oh, she is lovely, young and has eyes that follow you like this, (I moved my eyes from left to right,) it was here, right here, about three weeks ago." The dealer asked me, "Don’t you recall the title of the book?" I shook my head no.
Who is she? Can you tell me? *Mademoiselle de la Chicken Coop, has a partner too! Tomorrow his portrait will be posted here, and no, I don’t know his name either!
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