"If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush"
About this Quote
Dawn French lands this joke with the kind of velvet-gloved brutality only a seasoned comedian can manage: she flatters herself, skewers a beauty industry holy cow, and smuggles in a critique of who gets to count as “beautiful” - all in two sentences.
The Rubens reference does heavy lifting. Rubens’ baroque nudes are a cultural shorthand for abundance and softness, the “before” picture in today’s dieting morality tale. By placing herself in that world, French doesn’t just do self-deprecation’s opposite; she exposes how arbitrary the standards are. “Revered” is key: it reframes her body not as something to fix, but something to celebrate, reminding you that “ideal” is historically contingent, not medically ordained.
Then she pivots to Kate Moss, the ’90s patron saint of heroin chic. The punchline - “she would have been the paintbrush” - is a perfect act of comedic misdirection. It sounds like a compliment until you realize it’s a demotion. Model becomes tool. Muse becomes instrument. French flips the power dynamic: Moss’ thinness isn’t elevated as ethereal; it’s rendered narrow, utilitarian, almost comic in its severity.
The subtext isn’t “curvy good, skinny bad.” It’s that the culture treats women’s bodies like fashion cycles: swapable silhouettes packaged as destiny. French, a comedian who’s long made her body part of her public persona, uses wit as leverage - not to beg for inclusion, but to show the gate itself is ridiculous.
The Rubens reference does heavy lifting. Rubens’ baroque nudes are a cultural shorthand for abundance and softness, the “before” picture in today’s dieting morality tale. By placing herself in that world, French doesn’t just do self-deprecation’s opposite; she exposes how arbitrary the standards are. “Revered” is key: it reframes her body not as something to fix, but something to celebrate, reminding you that “ideal” is historically contingent, not medically ordained.
Then she pivots to Kate Moss, the ’90s patron saint of heroin chic. The punchline - “she would have been the paintbrush” - is a perfect act of comedic misdirection. It sounds like a compliment until you realize it’s a demotion. Model becomes tool. Muse becomes instrument. French flips the power dynamic: Moss’ thinness isn’t elevated as ethereal; it’s rendered narrow, utilitarian, almost comic in its severity.
The subtext isn’t “curvy good, skinny bad.” It’s that the culture treats women’s bodies like fashion cycles: swapable silhouettes packaged as destiny. French, a comedian who’s long made her body part of her public persona, uses wit as leverage - not to beg for inclusion, but to show the gate itself is ridiculous.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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