Three for tea

Fascinated by the elegance of Parisian high life, Soulacroix's interests lay in vividly depicting the sophistication of the upper classes at leisure, supplying the ever increasing demand at the end of the 19th Century for lavish interior scenes. An exceptionally observant recorder, Soulacroix traces the upholstery and drapery of the room and the ladies' silks and satins, describing in minute detail the surfaces and textures of such refined taste. The artist thus creates an image of social serenity; the three young beauties are dressed in a rich chromatic harmony of fashionable pastel coloured skirts with the elegantly puffed sleeves that recalled the dresses of the Renaissance. The scene displays less bourgeois staidness than one might expect from such a luxurious interior however. The low cut dresses reveal more than might have been deemed proper; the elegant satins fail to conceal the shapes of limbs beneath; the delicate feet coquettishly poke out from the edges of skirts.