Tissot, James (1836-1902)
Le Thé (Tea)
1872
Oil on wood, 66 x 47.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
When Tissot moved to London in 1871, he immersed himself in the local scene, with work for Vanity Fair and genre paintings with the river Thames as backdrop. This canvas is a repetition of the left-hand portion of one of his most famous London pictures, Bad News (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff), which shows a captain and his girlfriend absorbing the news of his imminent departure while a companion prepares tea, with the Pool of London in the background. Here, the view is of the dense cityscape beyond that stretch of the river. Tissot‘s friend Degas owned a pencil study for this work. (MET)
Compare:
Tissot, James (1836-1902)
Mauvaises nouvelles, la séparation
1872
National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Tissot, James (1836-1902)
Une histoire intéressante
c.1872
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne