The Queen of Spades.

"Oh! then listen. About sixty years ago, my grandmother went to Paris,

where she created quite a sensation. People used to run after her to

catch a glimpse of the 'Muscovite Venus.' Richelieu made love to her,

and my grandmother maintains that he almost blew out his brains in

consequence of her cruelty....The old Countess A---- was seated in her

dressing-room in front of her

looking--glass. Three waiting maids stood around her. One held a small

pot of rouge, another a box of hair-pins, and the third a tall can

with bright red ribbons. The Countess had no longer the slightest

pretensions to beauty, but she still preserved the habits of her

youth, dressed in strict accordance with the fashion of seventy years

before, and made as long and as careful a toilette as she would have

done sixty years previously.

A beautifully rendered image, and the perfect quote to accompany it. What really caught my attention here was how shocking the image is--we're used to seeing the perfect lily featured in photos, but here the flower's imperfections are featured, and that turns the image into something completely new. I also am enjoying the bright curves of the leaf edges a lot. In a way, the imperfections in the Countess allow us to better appreciate the subtle beauty in the waiting maids. 

The quote makes me blush. One of the greatest short stories of all time by one of the greatest masters of that genre. Glad you can dig the association.

Well composed. Nearly abstract. Really good!!