Chapter 37, Madonna 49 Summary

The currency reform ruins the headstone business and Oskar must capitalize on his hump to make a living. Before Korneff can dismiss him, Oskar walks off the job. He whiles away the hours sitting on a park bench until two young painters approach him, asking Oskar to become a model at the Academy. Soon, Oskar is being paid to pose full-time for portraits in charcoal, paint and clay. On Shrove Monday, Oskar attends an artist's party dressed as a jester. At the party, Oskar encounters Corporal Lankes from Normandy, the creator of Barbaric, Mystical, Bored. Lankes's tall, beautiful young girlfriend, Ulla, is with him. Soon she becomes an artist's model and muse at the Academy.

One of the instructors paints portraits of Ulla and Oskar posing as the Virgin Mary and Christ Child. The pair continues to model together with various...