The Ball on Shipboard

James Tissot painted "The Ball on Shipboard" in 1874, and it drops us right into the middle of a glamorous party at sea. Flags from around the world hang overhead like a bright canopy, shading the fashionable crowd gathered on deck. Tissot had a fondness for the fashions and social rituals of his day, and this scene is packed with things to admire, from bold striped gowns to dresses trimmed with bows and ruffles. Those two women near the center wearing identical outfits have long teased viewers. Some believe Tissot dressed them the same on purpose, since showing up in a matching gown was considered a small embarrassment in polite circles.

Born in France, Tissot settled in London and made a career out of painting Victorian leisure with crisp detail and vivid color. Critics at the time were not especially generous with this piece. A few grumbled that the women looked more like shoppers out for the day than genuine members of high society, while others called the whole thing rather vulgar. Even so, the painting has a wonderful sense of a moment frozen in time, as if a camera had caught these people mid conversation. One quiet joke lingers beneath the surface: for a picture called a ball, almost nobody is actually dancing.