An Immodest Proposal

Madame's Nightshirt
Mrs. Peperium

 

Mrs P. & Sir Basil,

What are the rules for putting up new members to the 
RCBfA [Roman Catholic Boys for Art]? I'd like to 
propose Robbo the Llama Butcher (and ODT if he is
not already a member). After their admittance, I would 
reccomend both be placed directly on the 
Stewardship Committee.

The Irish Elk


Dear Irish Elk,

I am not a member of the RCBfA. And will never be one. 
Not even an honorary member as the RCBfA is one of 
the few remaining all-male bastions left in the entire 
blogosphere. And it shall always remain all-male if 
I have anything to say about it.

Therefore, I 'm ignorant of the club's charter and rules 
but, I believe, they were in fact penned by Sir Basil and 
Mr. P after an evening at the dog races. Oh, here comes
Mr. P now. 

Oh Dear, Mr Elk has a question...

Mrs. Peperium


Dear Mr. Elk,

As you are the one doing the proposing, the heaviest 
burden falls upon your shoulders. Prospective members 
must eschew the works of Peter, Paul and Mary, while 
evincing a profound regard for the works of Peter Paul 
Ruebens. I refer you especially to his "Rape of the Sabine 
Women". A simple test of your candidate's fitness would 
be to insert a glossy color copy of this towering 
masterwork between the pages of, say, Robbo's Wall 
Street Journal. As he gets to Section B with all it's 
startling revelations about hedgefunds, watch his 
reactions closely for this is the acid test. If he blushes, 
he's out. If he makes a feeble excuse for the thing being 
there, he should be shot. If, however, he surreptitiously 
folds the picture in two andslips it into his breast pocket, 
we'll make him Treasurer.

ODT, your second nominee is already a member, 
occupying the esteemed Mae West Chair of François 
Boucher Studies. It goes without saying this position is 
fully-endowed.

Sir Basil, do yo have anything to add?

Mr. P

Comments

[Mario mandingo]

I thought this was to be a post on the Boy Scouts of America from the illustration on top.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Well, the RCBfA are, in their own way, Boy Scouts.

[MCNS]

Here is our marching song:

http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/beprepar.htm

[Robbo the Llama Butcher]

Well, Mrs. P, when it comes to the Sabine Women, I much prefer Nicholas Poussin's rendition. (And I think David's is pretty poor.)

As to Rubens' treatment of the Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, my thought on seeing those scantily-clad yet evidently well-fed young ladies being hoisted aboard has always been that those Roman fellahs sure must have been an awful lot stronger than me.

[MCNS]

Companion links for art appreciators:

Rubens:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/largeImage?workNumber=NG38&collectionPublisherSection=work

Poussin:
http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/poussin_sabine.jpg

David:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/david/david_sabine.jpg

Leucippus:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/r/rubens/rubens_leucippus.jpg

The Leucippus today would carry a caveat: Do Not Try This At Home.

[Mrs. Peperium]

Robbo, that's not me with the Sabine women. That's Mr. P. He's RCBfA. I'm just his figurine.