Before the ball

Before the Ball (1879), painted on panel, depicts a woman in the intimate preparations preceding a formal social event — adjusting her dress or jewellery, perhaps with a maid's assistance. This subject occupies the private, liminal space between the domestic interior and the public social world, giving the painter access to an unguarded feminine moment outside the performance of the ball itself. Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzalès, and Mary Cassatt had all explored similar subjects of women in private domestic preparation, and De Nittis's treatment participates in this strand of Impressionist interest in intimate bourgeois spaces. The small panel format suits the private subject matter and the gem-like concentration that the pre-ball preparation theme demands of both painter and viewer with its particular closeness to private feminine life.

The panel's small scale suits the intimate subject. Formal evening dress — rich fabrics, jewellery, possibly bare shoulders — is illuminated by warm indoor artificial light. De Nittis's technique in this intimate register is careful and luminous, capturing the sheen of silk under lamplight.