The commercial break back then was just the street sellers coming in

What’s up with the strange “RJ II” scrawl on the source painting?

Maybe I’m taking things way too seriously for c/memes, but this painting is so, uh … racy? It got me curious. It’s called “The Reading,” by an Italian painter named Vittorio Reggianini, who was far more modern than I had expected (1858-1939). Those clothing styles are (I think) from before his own time; he was painting the flirtations of rich youngsters from a century before his day. Historical fiction, really.