Jacques Joseph TISSOT, known as James TISSOT (Nantes, 1836 - Chenecey-Buillon, 1902) Breakfast in the morning Oil on panel, one plate, prepared on verso Annotated 'œuvre de James Tissot / appartenant à la collection / de Léonce Bénédite conservateur / du musée du Luxembourg' in ink on verso Annotated 'Benedite - do not clean' in pencil on verso The breakfast, oil on panel, by J. Tissot 13.58 x 10.82 in. 34.5 x 27.5 cm Provenance: Collection of the art historian and museum curator Léonce Bénédite (1859-1925) ; Private collection, Paris Bibliography: related: Willard Misfeldt, The Albums of James Tissot, Bowling Green, 1982, p. 98, fig. III-71 (Le Matin, watercolour) and p. 102, fig. IV-3 (Le Déjeuner du matin, watercolour) Related works: James Tissot, Le Déjeuner du matin, oil on canvas, circa 1885-1886, unlocated (studio of James Tissot; sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 9 and 10 July 1903, lot 10) James Tissot, Le déjeuner, watercolour (fig. 1), reproduced in the photograph albums James Tissot, Une servante portant un plateau, watercolour, (fig. 2), reproduced in the photograph albums James Tissot, Le Matin, black etching, 1886 (fig. 3) This small oil sketch by James Tissot is a compositional study for an unlocated oil painting, dated around 1885-1886, the watercolour version of which is reproduced in Tissot's photograph albums (fig. 1). The final version in oil is probably the painting entitled Le Déjeuner du matin, sold at the artist's posthumous studio sale in 1903 (Atelier James Tissot, Sale in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 9 and 10 July 1903, lot 10). The watercolour version was sold by Tissot himself in 1886 to the Paris art dealer Louis Adolphe Beugniet, along with two other watercolours of oil compositions (Tissot sales book). The photographic albums also list a watercolour of a servant carrying a breakfast tray (fig.2), engraved by Tissot in the black manner in 1886 entitled Le Matin (fig. 3). An unlocated oil study of the seated male figure is also known. Finally, this male figure is also found on the reverse of an imaginary representation of Kathleen Newton, known as Dolce far niente (sold at Christie's, London, 23 November 2005, lot 1). In the wake of the series La Femme à Paris and L'Etrangère of 1885 and 1886 Born Jacques-Joseph, the French artist was nicknamed "James" from childhood (probably thanks to the presence of an English governess) and used this first name professionally from his first exhibitions in Paris in 1858. Commercial success in the 1860s enabled Tissot to build a house in Paris. However, after the Franco-Prussian War, the siege of Paris and the Commune, he moved to London for ten years, returning to Paris only after the untimely death of his beloved Kathleen Newton from tuberculosis in November 1882. Tissot then conceived a series of large paintings entitled La Femme à Paris, exhibited at the Galerie Sedelmeyer in Paris in 1885 and at Tooth's Gallery in London in 1886. This was to be followed by another unfinished series, L'Étrangère. The theme of the maid carrying a breakfast tray, which appears in our painting, may have been developed in this context. The smiling maid, wearing a white dress embellished with pale red polka dots or floral motifs, an apron and a white headdress with a ribbon, looks directly at the viewer - as if the tray she is holding, with its hot chocolate and toast, were intended for us. In two paintings belonging to or related to the L'Étrangère series, La Voyageuse (Koninklijk Museum voor Schöne Kunsten, Antwerp) and Return from Henley (formerly Newark Museum, New Jersey), a young woman in the centre looks directly at the viewer, as do several of the female figures in the compositions in La Femme à Paris. The hunter's breakfast served by an English maid The maid in our painting is probably English. Indeed, Tissot's staff included Englishmen, and it is possible that he had an English maid - an ideal model for L'Étrangère. The manière noire technique was considered a typically English medium and particularly suited to the depiction of an English maid. An unlocated oil sketch entitled La Petite bonne, exhibited by Tissot at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in early 1889 (Exposition de Peintres-Graveurs, no. 316), is probably related to the black manner and watercolour Le Matin. Comparison of the present oil sketch with the related album photograph of the watercolour version reveals that Tissot originally depicted the male figure seated carrying a satchel or satchel, whereas in the finished painting the man is dressed in a heavy jacket, his boots beside the chair and his shotgun leaning against the wall by the door. He is probably getting ready to put on his boots, having already had a morning breakfast or lunch: a meal served late to guests before an early morning hunting trip. In the black, painted finish, the tray contains a large porcelain mug for hot chocolate, set in the silver chocolate pot at the back, as well as toast in a silver toast holder, a slice of cake or brioche, a silver milk jug and a glass jam jar. A teapot is also featured, for those who prefer tea, an element that is absent from the composition sketch, where the main object to the left of the tray is bread or brioche. The clock in the sketch indicates a time of around ten fifty (no clock appears in the watercolour photographed and it seems to be hidden in the black manner). Autumn at the Château de Buillon, the Tissot family home in the Doubs region of France The setting for this painting is a room in the Tissots' family château, Château de Buillon, near Besançon in the Doubs region of south-west France, a region of game celebrated in many paintings by Gustave Courbet, a native of the Doubs. Tissot was fond of including mirrors in his paintings, so as to encompass elements beyond the space depicted. Here, he shows the open doorway leading to the breakfast room, with a painting hanging on the wall next to the door. In the watercolour sketch, a small portrait silhouette hangs next to the mirror, while in the finished version, it is joined by other small portraits. Autumn is beginning to colour the foliage of the trees visible through the French windows, but the air is still mild and fresh enough to ventilate the room through a large window open on the left. Tissot's oil sketches: at the heart of the creative process Tissot often made small oil sketches on commercially prepared wooden panels, as he did for the present work. On their bleached surface, he applied a dark-brown preparation in broad brushstrokes. This brownish tone served as a base, providing half-tones and shadows, allowing him to complete a painting quickly with touches and strokes, sometimes for detail, sometimes for highlights, while the white background left in reserve provided luminosity through the brushstrokes. This can be seen, for example, in the upper left-hand section of our work. Many of these oil sketches appeared in Tissot's posthumous studio sale in 1903. The Léonce Bénédite provenance Léonce Bénédite (1859-1925), the former owner of the present work, was an art historian. From 1892, he was curator of the Musée du Luxembourg, then dedicated to contemporary art. He worked to enhance the collection and present all artistic media and a wide range of artists, writing numerous catalogues, books and articles. Bénédite was certainly familiar with Tissot and his work. He owned at least one other painting by the artist, a large oil-on-canvas sketch of a parade of the Lord Mayor in London, acquired in 1972 by the City of London from one of his descendants for the collection of the Guildhall Art Gallery. We would like to thank Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for confirming the authenticity of this work from photographs in an email dated 13 September 2025 and for writing this notice. Jacques Joseph TISSOT, known as James TISSOT (Nantes, 1836 - Chenecey-Buillon, 1902) 34.5 x 27.5 cm