James Tissot The Ball on Shipboard, c1874, oil on canvas, 33×51in (84×129.5cm), Tate Britain, London, UK.
This seems to represent a dance given on board the Royal yacht during Cowes Regatta on the Isle of Wight in 1873, although James Tissot never verified the location or event. He exhibited the painting at the Royal Academy from May to August 1874, three years after he had arrived in London from Paris. Although it received some scathing reviews, this and other similar paintings of fashionable figures enjoying English society were generally extremely popular and brought him celebrity status and financial success
Many French artists sought refuge in England from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. This is the first exhibition to chart the stories of those artists, from the start of the war until the Enteinte Cordiale was signed between Britain and France in 1904.