On a Painting Bought by Monsieur DesJardins

By Robert James DeBurgh (Poet)

M. DesJardins recently acquired a picture
That he desired, a ghastly thing, full of crude
Colouring
Of paint in daubs and blobs of cobalt blue and green
And yellow chrome pushed into globs
Of sunflowers. It shouldn't be seen!
Puts a sensitive man right off his food.
I've no wish to be rude, but when he said it's by
Some Dutchman named "Vangoff" (who can't
Write his own name, for he signed the thing
"VINCENT"
With a thick black brush.) A dreadful paint job
Done in a rush, it'll never be worth a cent
As "ART" it's bloody bent!
But I wondered what he meant when he said:
"It'll be worth a lot more when this Dutchman's dead"

Vieux Port, Marseilles, 1891

NOTE:
This is the first known example RJdeB's Work of his "French" period. He was forced to quit Damascus at short notice, for a breach of Diplomatic Ettiquette... (Namely he slept with the Greek Ambassador's wife without the permission of the Governor of Palestine, who had been sleeping with her up until then.)
The only vessel on which he was able to gain passage was the French ship "L'Aigle" which was bound for Marseilles. RJ deB resided there for about five months, until the Governor of Palestine was killed in a drunken brawl in a brothel in Alexandria.
(what the Greek Ambassador's wife thought of either of these events is not recorded)

NOTES ON PROVENANCE:
This Work was discovered carved into the underside of a trestle table by a builder known only as "Marcel", during post-war renovations of a dockside Tavern in 1947.
(What RJ de B was doing under a table is anyone's guess......)