Tissot’s Victorian Ladies

Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), Anglicized as James Tissot, was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of Paris society before moving to London in 1871. He became famous as a genre painter of fashionably dressed women shown in various scenes of everyday life. He also painted scenes and characters from the Bible. Born in Nantes, France, his father was a drapery merchant and his mother designed hats. Their involvement in the fashion industry influenced his artistic flair for painting the finer details of women’s clothing. Tissot enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to study in the studios of Hippolyte Flandrin and Louis Lamothe—both known for their decorative art skills. It was here that Tissot became acquainted with Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and James Whistler.