Sunday 7th December - Idleness

 Ah, Sunday, the day of rest! Well, no rest for the wicked, so onwards!

Idleness (1871) Patrick Allan Fraser

Now, this seems fitting for today as I am in dire need of a good sleep and ironically the one thing that sends me off is trying to read, which is extremely irritating and counter-intuitive. I adore this servant who has put down her brushes for a moment to sit in a comfy chair with that blue-covered book, but has dozed off. The Dundee Advertiser declared it a triumph that easily caught the eye in the Royal Scottish Academy, although they objected somewhat to the voluptuousness of the maid. Rude.

Elizabeth Allan Fraser Seated, Reading with a Cat (c.1871)

Unlike yesterday's artist, lots is written about Patrick Allan Fraser (1813-1890) who has not only his own Wikipedia page but also lots of contemporary accounts, not least because he was rich (it always helps). He was born Patrick Allan but married the heiress Elizabeth Fraser, so adopted her name too, which is marvellously feminist of him. Together they renovated a house called Hospitalfield (now open to the public) and painted her reading with her cat. I wonder if the sleeping housemaid is also pictured at Hospitalfield as the interior is not dissimilar.

I'm not sure if its my rampant Marxism showing, but I thoroughly object to the title of the painting as I doubt this poor lass has an idle moment in her day normally.  The stripes of her skirt match the stripes of the discarded broom hinting that her employer sees her as a cleaning tool rather than a human who is for the moment still and not fulfilling her purpose.  Maybe her purpose is also to read and not be exhausted? It seems to me that her reason to sit was to read, not sleep, but she nodded off.  I'm guessing that our point of view is as her employer and the judgement on her idleness is therefore ours. The Dundee Courier was even more damning in their view of the girl in the 1873 review of the piece - 'An over-fed, under-worked servant girl lies back in an armchair asleep...she is altogether a most comfortable, not to say jolly, specimen of her class.' Yuck. And they conclude that she is not exactly showing what the maids of Dundee declare is their hard life at the hands of stern mistresses. Those lying housemaids, snoozing on the job and claiming their life is so hard! Thank goodness this artist came along to expose their lies, I can now go and have my dinner which has magically appeared on the table...

Revolution now comrades! Do excuse me, I'm having a moment.

This will not be the only reading servant we meet this month, and we'll see how the others fair at the hands of both their masters and the media.  In the meantime, I'll see you tomorrow.