James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot

Carpentier-Deforge, Paris
Sale: Parke-Bernet, New York, October 5, 1961, lot 51
Sale: Sotheby's, London, November 22, 1983, lot 60, illustrated
Stair Sainty Fine Art, New York (until 1984)
Private Collection, Canada (acquired from the above)

Willard E. Misfeldt, The Albums of James Tissot, Bowling Green, Ohio, p. 62, fig. III-22, illustrated
Michael Wentworth, James Tissot, Oxford, 1984, fig. 163, illustrated
James Tissot: 1836-1902, exhibition catalogue, Barbican Art Gallery, London, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester and Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, November 1984-June 1985, p. 216, fig. 79, illustrated
Michael Wentworth, James Tissot: Catalogue Raisonné of his prints, Minneapolis, 1987, p. 233, pl. 53, the print illustrated

La Soeur Aînée, like most of Tissot’s paintings from 1879-1882, depicts his mistress, Kathleen Newton, set against the backdrop of his home at 14 Grove End Road in St. John’s Wood.  Here, she is shown with her young niece, Lilian Hervey, and the two have been recast as sisters.  Tissot often gave his paintings fictional names, such as The Widower or The Orphan, perhaps believing that this would appeal to the Victorian taste for genre and narrative.  Kathleen is lost in thought, almost daydreaming, while the young Lilian sucks her thumb and leans against her aunt.  This childish posture, while so natural, was rarely depicted in paintings of contemporary children of the time (N. R. Marshall and M. Warner, James Tissot, Victorian Love, Modern Life, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999, p. 138).  It may have appealed to Tissot as a detail of modern life.  Indeed, the painting is based on two photographs, each of which depict Kathleen seated on the steps of Tissot’s conservatory (figs. 1 and 2).  In the painting, Tissot combines the gestures depicted in the photographs; Lilian sucking her thumb and Kathleen daydreaming.  The figures who appear on the upper landing in the two photographs are gone, and replaced by a cat sleeping on a chair.  The evolution from photograph to painting and eventually to a print, provides a glimpse into Tissot’s working method in choosing a subject and setting up a composition.  He always seduces the viewer with his attention to detail, whether in a painting or a black-and-white print, and never fails to provide a veritable feast for the eyes.