James Jacques Joseph Tissot was born in Nantes, a famous seaport in France, in 1836. At an early age, James showed an aptitude for drawing and painting and was sent to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He studied under the direction of Lamothe and Flandrin. After he completed his studies, he traveled to England to begin his career as an artist. When he arrived in London, he was introduced to the drypoint etching technique by Whistler’s brother-in-law, Seymour Hayden.

In all of Tissot’s paintings and etchings, one can see the influence of the Belle Epoque style and an overall feeling of romanticism. He celebrated the attitudes, occupants and outings of the ‘grand bourgeoisie’, as well as their clothing and costumes, which he rendered in loving and exquisite detail, reproducing each fold, pattern and seam. This gave him the chance to display his technical virtuosity and also convey the belief that the representation of ‘modernity’ required a careful observation of contemporary costumes.

In the mid 1870’s, he became involved with a beautiful woman named Kathleen Newton, and she and her children appeared in over 35 of his etchings and paintings. She was an intensely romantic figure, yet her reputation was cloaked in scandal because she was divorced and had two illegitimate children. She became his adored mistress and dominated his work and life. She died tragically in 1882 and this completely devastated Tissot. He often reverted to spiritualism and séances to feel close to her and try to communicate with her. He soon fled to Paris and changed his focus of using beautiful women as his preferred subject matter to religious subjects and biblical stories. He retired to the Monastery of Buillon in France and died there in 1902.