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Dina Lems was "first lady" of the notorious Elmina slave-trading station on the west coast of Africa. If I were her, I would wear solid black too.
Democracy must have been so much better back in the days when they let dogs control floor debate at the Dutch States-General.
Apparently the Dutch never heard the line from Steely Dan that "whoa no, William and Mary won't do," or they would not have enshrined them in Delftware. But I'm never going back to that old artistic school.
Out of all the old masters in the Rijksmuseum, go figure that the one which would catch my eye is the painting involving the drinking game. Just see if you're good enough to drink down to exactly the line each time, or you'll have to keep going.
What happened to the Dutch Republic? The sober father handed the business over to ...
his colorful son.
To the health of the Nassau line, rapier in one hand, and in the other a glass.
By now you're thinking that a carved wooden cabinet is even less funny than plumbing parts. And since I already used up the post-modern self-reflexive irony bit on the last page, I'll just have to fall back on the reliably humorous cheap sexual innuendo, even though it doesn't really fit the image.
The storm-tossed sailors on this ship are boosting their spirits by saying to each other "Look at it this way, at least we don't have to run a marathon!"