The Countess of Getty

Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield
Thomas Gainsborough, 1777-78
Oil on Canvas
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

She steps in front
of the mammoth portrait
shooting me a similar smile
as I’m reading how
Gainsborough used
loose brushwork to show texture
in the drapes and folds
of the Countess of Chesterfield’s dress.
Her hair echoes the azure skirt,
spiky blue tips shimmering
in the gallery lights.
After a moment she glides off,
serene, chin held high,
striding soundlessly
on trendy platform sneakers—
stylish as the satin slippers
on that painted pair of feet.
Belatedly, I catch her eye
and smile back,
imagining the rustle and swish
of a silk gown
in her wake.

Madeleine French lives in Florida and Virginia with her husband. A Best of the Net nominee, her work appears in Identity Theory, ONE ART, Dust Poetry Magazine, West Trade Review, Door Is A Jar, Thimble Literary Magazine, The Madrigal Press, and elsewhere. She is working on a full-length poetry collection.