She’s “The Hesitant Fiancée,” the eponymous subject of the painter Auguste Toulmouche’s 1866 painting. Toulmouche wasn’t a feminist painter, but his work speaks to women todayToulmouche painted scenes of elegant, wealthy French women in domestic settings, often chronicling their romantic exploits. The seated woman in "The Hesitant Fiancée" has inspired TikTok users to create memes based on their own eye roll-worthy moments when they had to swallow their anger. Auguste Toulmouche/From WikipediaWhile Toulmouche was “by no means a painter of feminist art,” Brown said, the women in his paintings are interpreted today as slyly subversive. “Read as a narrative that unfolds across the two works, it looks like the young woman from ‘Forbidden Fruit’ knows what’s about to happen to her.”‘The Hesitant Fiancée’ is courting TikTok fansThe revival of “The Hesitant Fiancée” has been centuries in the making.

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Persons: she’s, Auguste Toulmouche’s, She’s, “, Fiancée ”, Kathryn Brown, ”, Brown, Toulmouche wasn’t, Émile Zola, ” Brown, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Auguste Toulmouche, Toulmouche, They’ve, —, that’s, “ Read, TikTok, Kira, @TheArtRevival, Tatyana, Art, would’ve, who’s, ” Kira Organizations: CNN, Loughborough University, Beaux, Arts ’ Paris Salon, Toulmouche Locations: ”, France