for Desperate Duchesses

In Desperate Duchesses, the Duke of Villiers gives Roberta a painting by Joshua Reynolds as an engagement present. She immediately sees the way in which the painting expresses Villiers' mixed feelings about marriage. The tie between the Regency slang for marriage (a mousetrap) and the mouse have been spelled out by Peter Sutton, who noted that "for classical authors the trapped mouse was a metaphor for unpunished immoderation, an idea that was given a more specifically amorous meaning in Dutch literature: as the mouse sacrifices its life for treats, the man pays for stolen kisses with his heart."

The painting actually exists. Reynolds called it Girl with a Mousetrap. It was probably painted around 1784 and was reportedly sold to Count D'Ademar for 50 pounds (around $75). Now his portraits sell for around 10 million pounds -- or 75 million dollars!  No copy of the Reynolds' portrait is available on-line, but we did find an etching.

This is Eloisa's Egg #8 - "collect" them all!