Tissot, James (1836-1902)
London Visitors
1874
Oil on canvas, 87 x 62.87 cm
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee
Standing underneath the portico of the newly constructed National Gallery in London, with the church of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields framed behind them, a fashionably dressed couple contemplates which site to visit next. The gentleman consults his guidebook, while his female companion uses her umbrella to gesture towards Trafalgar Square, which lies in front of them. Tissot, who was a close friend of the avant-garde Impressionists, was a great painter of fashionable members of society. By contrast, he included a slender youth in the foreground, one of the so-called bluecoat boys, who were students of the charitable Christ’s Hospital School, and who often acted as tour guides to visitors to the city. (MAM)
Compare:
Tissot, James (1836-1902)
London Visitors
c.1874
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo
Tissot, James (1836-1902)
Jeune femme descendant les marches
1878
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam