That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for May 24, 2024

“Let me present to the court exhibit 1 of the events that led to the hush money payoff.”

/// François Tronchin is rich and well bred;

he owns Rembrandt’s “A Woman in Bed.”

A bigwig in Geneva,

here he seems to perceive a

detail not concealed by her bedspread.

The woman in Robert’s painting wanted to see who Robert was talking to.

“This here picture I took when I snuck into my neighbour’s house while she was in bed.”

Museum curator explaining why this modernistic interpretation of the Madonna was rejected by the Vatican.

I keep this portrait of ma, ma to remind me of how much my father suffered to bring me into this world.

“This is my girlfriend. She’s Canadian. You wouldn’t know her.”

He painted this to remember the time he watched his cousin while hiding in her closet.

One of the first uses of picture-in-picture technology.

At the sight of the girl in the sack/

He was utterly taken aback/

She fetchingly beckons/

But (sadly) he reckons/

That she doesn’t have much of a rack.

Now, is the wife about to cheat on him with the nanny? Inquiring minds want to know … as well as watch.

That girl sure has big hands!

I hope he’s recording it…

The real origin of Haydn’s “Surprise” symphony.

This is so anachronistic. He doesn’t have a hidden nanny cam, he has a hidden nanny painter.

François Tronchin: 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:Pastels by Jean-Étienne Liotard" Wikimedia 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found and once there find the text string 70.9, and click its link for info and links that point to more info (perhaps best viewed using the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers, which can automatically translate most webpages if necessary) about this roughly B3 paper size painting, along with a Description. If your browser isn’t set up to handle .tif images, to see an enlarged image there and avoid the 70.9 MB image download to your device, click a size under the image, rather than the image itself. 

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #3327 (May 24, 2024) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu (even larger, if you trim what’s after .png from the URL). I have added a comment there pointing to info about this artist I used to point to here. So far, 2 works by him have been used here, the June 23, 2014, strip being the prior. GoComics has deactivated the hyperlinks and removed the new lines in my extensive comment there; but, perhaps the text remains informative.

Dr. : you look so healthy. Have you ever been bedridden before?

Patient: Oh, yes, many many times, and twice in a buggy.

Isaac, looking in the magic mirror sees what he will be in the future

They knew him as Tronchin the munchin’ /

he liked to take the ladies to luncheon-/

and when they were fed/

he would put them to bed/

And assail them with his “friendly truncheon”…

“She never figured out who installed the secret painter in her bedroom closet..”

With an attitude like that, I could see him opening the conversation with, “Well? Was he good?”

He’s watching the lass in a mirror

and she’s beckoning him to draw nearer

but he never did kiss

the saucy Swiss Miss:

for his interests were, well, somewhat queerer.

/// I am here in the U. S. of A.

on the very last Monday in May.

If the past is a guide,

Priceless will be denied

until Tues. It’s Memorial Day!

(Wishing a meaningful and solemn holiday to all who celebrate.)

Great caption, Steve! Hilarious!

What?!? Taking time off?