The Ball on Shipboard

The Ball on Shipboard of 1874, now in the Tate collection, is among the most ambitious of Tissot's British-period paintings, showing a crowded social event taking place on the deck of a naval vessel in Portsmouth Harbour. Tissot arrived in London in 1871 after the fall of the Paris Commune — in which he had been a participant — and found extraordinary success among the British upper-middle classes, who responded enthusiastically to his combination of French technical facility, modern subject matter, and detailed observation of fashionable dress and social behaviour. Naval balls and reviews were prominent social events in Victorian Britain, combining patriotic pride in the fleet with the social pleasures of dancing, flirtation, and display. The painting crowds the deck with women in brilliant summer dresses against the backdrop of rigging, flags, and naval vessels.

Oil on canvas, the painting is remarkable for the challenge of depicting a crowd scene outdoors, managing the competing demands of strong summer light, the complex patterns of women's dresses, and the architectural setting of the ship's deck. Tissot's handling of light on fabric — silk, cotton, linen — is among his finest achievements, and the composition manages to create depth and order within a scene of apparent crowded confusion.