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Henriette Browne (actually Sophie de Saux) painted A Girl Writing; The Pet Goldfinch in 1870.
The Victoria and Albert Museum writes that &amp;#8220;[t]his painting is a fine example of [Browne&amp;#8217;s] art as it combines a portrait of a young girl and a genre scene, the young girl being distracted by a goldfinch while doing her homework&amp;#8230;The bird&amp;#8217;s cage can be construed as a metaphor for the imposed homework while the fact that it is opened alludes to the possibility of escaping such task by distraction.&amp;#8221;
The other goldfinch, however, is content for the moment to stay in its cage.
(After all, there&amp;#8217;s food.)