A bit of flattery [graphic]

"A tall fashionably dressed portrait painter, holding his crescent-shaped hat under his arm, stands between his subject (right) and the whole length painting of her which leans against the wall (left). The lady is fantastically fat, with huge lips. She wears a short-waisted décollétee dress (though her waist is undiscernible), and holds in both hands a small parasol. On the canvas she is transformed into Juno pouring out a libation for Jove, an eagle clutching thunderbolts; she wears quasi-classical dress, with breast and arms bare; one sandalled foot rests on a cloud. Her bulk is scarcely modified; the likeness remains, though the contour of face and lips is improved. Two half length portraits also lean against the wall. The Irish painter declaims: "A famous hand Madam!!! Your Eyes indeed are featured there, but where's the sparkling moisture, shineing fluid in which they swim? the Picture indeed has your dimples, but wheres the swarm of hilling Cupids that should ambush there? the lips to are figured out, but where's [the] dew, the pouting ripeness that tempts the taste in the original; your breasts too!! What paint Heaven!!! presumtuos Man!" She says, with eyes coyly dropped: "Oh Mr Flanegan You flatter me!!"."--British Museum online catalogue