Catherine The Glutton Poem by Douglas Scotney

Only 7 years after the storm of protest
caused by the sale in France
to the rich empress and glutton Catherine II
for the 2017 equivalent of $5million
of the glutton Crozat's collection,
including Jesus Christ's, I mean Raphael's
The Holy Family and St George and the Dragon,
Giorgione's Judith,
a Titian Danae, a Veronese Pieta,
Rembrandt's Danae and The Holy Family,
Rubens' Bacchus,6 Van Dycks,
Poussins, Watteaus and Chardins,

a similar tempest was occasioned in England
by the sale to her
for the equivalent of $8 million in 2017's money
of 204 paintings of the glutton Robert Walpole's collection,
including 8 Titians,
Rubens' Head of a Franciscan Monk and 18 others,
20 Van Dycks including Inigo Jones,
Murillo's Adoration of the Shepherds and 4 others,
3 each of Veronese, Holbein and Rembrandt,
including the latter's Portrait of an Elderly Lady
and 2 each by Velasquez and Christ, I mean Raphael.

Walpole had amassed a huge collection,
in part
by raiding the collections
of some who'd fallen on misfortune's sword,
in part
by awarding titles
in return for art.