London Visitors
Artist: James Tissot (French, 1836-1902)
Date: about 1874
Dimensions:
Painting: 63 × 45 in. (160 × 114.3 cm)
Framed: 75 1/4 × 57 1/4 × 4 7/8 in. (191.1 × 145.4 × 12.4 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1951.409
Label Text:Outside the National Gallery in London a fashionable tourist couple decides what to see next. The woman points her umbrella imperiously in the direction of Trafalgar Square while her oblivious companion consults a guidebook. Meanwhile, a young guide from Christ’s Hospital School stands by, bored, his services unengaged. The painting seems a straightforward, rather humorous look at sightseers in London. But is there more going on here?
The woman breaks some important Victorian social rules. Her dress is too ostentatious for a day spent touring the city. Furthermore, her forthright gaze—apparently locking eyes with someone on the steps (or with the viewer of the painting)—is a breach of feminine propriety. A proper Victorian lady never made eye contact with strangers. The abandoned cigar on the steps provocatively suggests an unseen male presence.
French artist James Tissot moved to London in 1872. A keen observer of the fashion and manners of the newly wealthy British middle class, many of his paintings suggest narratives of social “mistakes,” both innocent and deliberate.
The woman breaks some important Victorian social rules. Her dress is too ostentatious for a day spent touring the city. Furthermore, her forthright gaze—apparently locking eyes with someone on the steps (or with the viewer of the painting)—is a breach of feminine propriety. A proper Victorian lady never made eye contact with strangers. The abandoned cigar on the steps provocatively suggests an unseen male presence.
French artist James Tissot moved to London in 1872. A keen observer of the fashion and manners of the newly wealthy British middle class, many of his paintings suggest narratives of social “mistakes,” both innocent and deliberate.
On view
In Collection(s)