Reader of Novels

This painting, The Reader of Novels , is by Belgian artist Antoine Joseph Wiertz, and was completed in 1853.

It certainly captures the pleasure of lying in bed reading a dirty book!

I just wonder ... who is that sneaking in and trying to nick one of her other books?

Wiertz, btw, painted some really weird morbid stuff - you can see some of it here if you are interested. These examples aren't the half of it:

The Young Witch, 1857
Two Young Girls, 1847