“On the Thames”
“On the Thames”, sometimes referred to as “Return from Henley”, is a lovely oil on canvas painting by the French artist, James Tissot, from circa 1874. His work falls somewhere in between realism and impressionism. The woman beautifully rendered in this painting is Kathleen Newton. Newton was Tissot’s companion. He called the years he was with her as the happiest years of his life.
Tissot met the divorcée, Kathleen Newton, sometime around the time the painting was made. She soon became his muse and constant companion until her premature death in 1882. After suffering from tuberculosis for several years, she took her own life. She was just 28 years old. After Newton’s death, Tissot moved back to Paris.
This piece displays all of the attributes that made Tissot’s art so popular during his lifetime. He completed a number of portraits of both people on the Thames, and of high elegant women of society in fine dress. Notice the minute stylistic details in Newton’s dress.
This painting graces the cover of The Three Clerks by the English Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, and The White Peacock by D.H. Lawrence.
“On the Thames” is currently in a private collection.
For more on James Tissot, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
