ummm, a different portrait commission

This painting commission was, umm, a bit bizarre.  Believe it or not, the couple that commissioned it asked me to do a painting of their daughter within a painting, with the artist being a monkey.  The couple commissioning the work are really fun, and I've gotten such mixed reviews on this piece.  I loved painting this piece.  If, in my body of work I had to categorize this piece, it would be "most lighthearted."  I don't know how much the girl liked it (she asked to be painted on the landing of a double grand balustrade, in a flowing black dress), but the parents loved it.

Is this "Fine Art"?  Illustration?  Brilliant use of imagination?  Weird?  I tweaked perspective, flattening some space and brought depth to other areas.  Are there real people in the background, or is that a tapestry?  I have no clue myself.  Color harmonies are blatantly violated, the paint on the palette actually is blobs of paint that are about one inch off of the canvas.  There are dozens of references to artists of the past, you could probably spend the better part of a day finding them all.  There is actually one painting reference in which the artist I copied had himself copied another artist.  Egad, triple quoting.  Should you be so inclined to find these hidden things, good luck.

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