La proposition

Jean Béraud's 'La proposition' (The Proposition, 1885) is a contemporary social subject from the Paris street and café world he made his primary subject world — the 'proposition' of the title implying a social encounter of ambiguous or potentially improper character, the specific social dynamics of the Paris street (where encounters between men and women of different social positions or of uncertain social connection carried particular social meanings) creating the genre subject's narrative interest.

Béraud renders the Parisian social encounter with his characteristic descriptive precision and social observation — the specific details of the figures' dress, the street setting, and the social dynamics implied by their interaction creating the genre subject's narrative content. His highly finished, anecdotal technique gives the social observation a quality of illustrated reportage, the specific details of costume and setting documented with the accuracy of a painter who walked the streets of Paris with his sketchbook.