A Monkey In A Jacket

I was in the Louvre, exploring the upper floors, and I came across a little painting by Decamps.
Le Singe Peintre. The Monkey Artist.
I was transfixed. A little monkey in a jacket painting.
Decamps was having a go. Any monkey can paint, he was saying. Any monkey can imitate. Putting a monkey in jacket doesn’t mean he’s not a monkey.
Trying to do something different was hard, he was saying, not because of the effort but because it was simply easier to be a monkey in a jacket.
I thought about the little painting as I walked home, hands deep in my jacket.