Portrait of Miss L.L. or Girl in a Red Jacket

This remarkable portrait on a modest scale was intended to convince visitors to the 1864 Salon of the skills of an artist looking for portrait customers. The picture marked Tissot’s abandonment of historical subjects in the style of the Belgian Leys in favour of the honest realism that was to bring him success. A friend of Degas, who painted a fine portrait of him in 1868, Tissot was also a dandy with a solid position in smart society, and he continued for ten years to make a brilliant career as a society painter in London.