James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)

This study is related to the background in The Ferry (Christie's, London, 11 June 1993, lot 100), which Willard Misfeldt thought was probably the '(Blackfriars) Steamboat' Tissot recorded in his notebook, as sold to Maclean in 1879. The method of oil sketching on a reddish-brown ground is very typical of Tissot, and at least one other bridge study has come up at auction (Richmond Bridge, Sotheby's, London 19 June 1990, lot 46). Tissot then used the same view of Richmond Bridge in the background of two larger works Richmond Bridge, c. 1878, with the artist and Kathleen Newton in the foreground, and The Artist, Mrs Newton and her Niece, Lilian Hervey by the Thames at Richmond, c. 1878-9.

We are grateful to Krystyna Maty for her assistance in preparing this catalogue note.