• idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      She may be eating an ortolan, that’s why she covers her head:

      The traditional way French gourmands eat ortolans is to cover their heads and face with a large napkin or towel while consuming the bird. The purpose of the towel is debated. Some claim it is to retain the maximum aroma with the flavour as they consume the entire bird at once, while according to The Daily Telegraph, “Tradition dictates that [the towel] is to shield – from God’s eyes – the shame of such a decadent and disgraceful act”, and others have suggested the towel simply hides the consumers spitting out bones. This use of the towel was begun by a priest, a friend of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortolan_bunting#Culinary_use

      But wiki of the painting says:

      The one on the left of the man wears a headscarf in the typical garb of married Roman women at the time.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_a_Roman_Osteria

      I think it doesn’t look like that, it seems like it’s just placed there, without any fixture.

      • calliope@retrolemmy.com
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        22 hours ago

        If I zoom in on the painting, it looks like she is eating a salad, as are her tablemates.

        I think it’s kind of a reach to go all the way to “eating ortolan in Rome” based on the head scarf, regardless of how it’s placed.

        We could just as safely assume she is doing what this thread says, putting it on her head to “cover herself from the observer” because she’s eating a salad.

  • xxce2AAb@feddit.dk
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    1 day ago

    Given the bedroom eyes of the two ladies and the aggravation of the gentleman, the painter must have been quite the charmer too.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    First: cat glare.

    Second: there is a hat inexplicably on the wall but the gentleman in the image still wears his hat. Hats are optional, I guess?

    • stray@pawb.social
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      20 hours ago

      The hat on the wall is hanging from a hook which was placed there specifically for hanging hats on the wall.

        • stray@pawb.social
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          17 hours ago

          Maybe that’s why the artist felt the need to take a photo, as proof of this man’s audacity so his friends will believe the story.

    • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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      24 hours ago

      The service cat’s job is to support the owner. Here it supports with some angry staring.

  • GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip
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    19 hours ago

    I have been this person XD. the trick is appearing as if you are drawing something past them or arround them. You musn’t stare, catch a few glimpses here and there and let your brain fill in the rest.