Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind

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About

Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind refers to series of comments, image macros and references to the 1896 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, depicting a nude, screaming woman emerging from a well.

Origin

"Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind is the title of an 1896 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme.^[1] In the picture, a nude woman (truth) emerges from a well screaming (shown below).
According to the Daily Dot,^[9] the painting may be based on the saying^[8] "Truth lies at the bottom of a well."

Spread

On December 6th, 2012, Tumblr^[2] user prufrocking posted the painting to Tumblr. Within five years, the photo received more than 481,000 notes.

Since first appearing on Tumblr, both the image and the title have been used in various capacities. On February 1st, 2016, Tumblr^[3] user Jake-Clark posted a webcomic based on the painting, featuring "Truth" chasing a little girl who lied about the size of a fish (shown below, left).

Three months later, on May 25th, Tumblr^[7] user flyartproductions posted the original painting with the Beyonce lyrics "Who the fuck do you think I am." The post (shown below, right) received more than 23,000 as of July 2017.

The fish was AWESoME! NO IT WASN'T IT WASNT THAT BIG < Someone HELP!

On February 4th, Twitter user @meakoopa^[6] posted the painting with the caption "this painting by Jean-Léon Jérôme is called 'Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind' and it rules so hard." The post (shown below) received more than 5,800 retweets and 12,400 likes in a year and a half.

this painting by Jean-Léon Jérôme is called "Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind" and it rules so hard

Later that year, on Tumblr, the picture became a popular caption for pictures of people in bodies of water and other confined spaces. On November 13th, Tumblr^[5] user hungry-hobbits posted a picture of Robbie Rotten peering out of a mailbox with "Truth coming out of her well to shame mankind" as a caption. The post (shown below, left) received more than 13,000 notes in eight months.

On December 25th, Tumblr^[4] user rocktopussy posted a picture of musician Laura Jane Grace in a tub with "Truth coming out of her well to shame mankind" as a caption. The post (shown below, right) received more than 1,300 notes as of July 2017.