![](http://www.tumblr.com/share/photo?source=http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F000%2F043%2F196918%2Clarge.jpg%3F1382211553&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Falbums%2Fkeeping-up-with-the-leisure-class%2Fcontent%2Fsummer-evening%2F" title="Summer Evening"%3ESummer Evening%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EJames Tissot
(French, 1836–1902)
Summer Evening, 1881
Etching
Friends of Art Fund, 1969.18
After the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the successful portrait artist James Tissot moved to England, where he began painting scenes of fashionable life in London. Like Gavarni before him, Tissot had connections in the fashion world and excelled at capturing the fine detail of women’s clothing and the subtleties of gesture. This print develops the same subject—Tissot’s wife Katherine enjoying a summer evening in their garden—as an 1876 painting of the same name. Katherine’s languidly bent wrist suggests both relaxation—a pleasure and prerogative of the leisure class—and illness. Katherine died in 1882 of consumption.
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The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19th-Century France
Summer Evening
James Tissot (French, 1836–1902) Summer Evening, 1881 Etching Friends of Art Fund, 1969.18
After the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the successful portrait artist James Tissot moved to England, where he began painting scenes of fashionable life in London. Like Gavarni before him, Tissot had connections in the fashion world and excelled at capturing the fine detail of women’s clothing and the subtleties of gesture. This print develops the same subject—Tissot’s wife Katherine enjoying a summer evening in their garden—as an 1876 painting of the same name. Katherine’s languidly bent wrist suggests both relaxation—a pleasure and prerogative of the leisure class—and illness. Katherine died in 1882 of consumption.