Kathleen Newton was only twenty-three years old when Tissot painted her as Mavourneen in 1877. This is one of the earliest portraits of the beautiful young woman, whose presence prevailed in almost all of Tissot's works from 1877 until her untimely death in 1882. She appeared as the loving mother seated with her children on a garden bench, as the elegant lady in black standing in front of a blaze of autumn leaves, and as the pretty girl with her hair in a braid dressed in the height of Paris fashion in Mavourneen. Tissot's etching after Mavourneen was his most popular print during his lifetime (figure 1). It was one of nine works that Tissot exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878, most of which featured Kathleen Newton as the centerpiece. The title Mavourneen was based on a popular Victorian love song, Kathleen Mavourneen, meaning "my darling" or "my dear one", and it was curiously a song of parting. Tissot's choice of the title may have also been prompted by the revival of William Travers' play, Kathleen Mavourneen at the Globe Theatre in July 1876. The heroine of the play, an Irish farm girl named Kathleen O'Connor dreamed of becoming the mistress of the local squire's house, and is given a beautiful coat by the squire's sister.

The costume Mrs. Newton wears in Mavourneen is the same as in his monumental painting, October (Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal), and in his earlier print, La Frileuse. She is dressed in a stylish, black coat which is embroidered with silver arabesque designs. The collar is trimmed with fur and she warms her hands in a matching fur muff. Her wide-brimmed hat is topped with feathers and a black velvet bow. We can only assume it is a crisp autumn day in St. John's Wood - Kathleen is dressed for the weather, and we are given a glimpse of orange and golden chestnut trees, gently diffused through the blue-grey glass of the window pane. In Mavourneen, Tissot emphasizes Mrs. Newton's strong silhouette by placing her against a cream colored window shade, thereby creating a study of contrasts of velvety darks against soft lights. The idea of posing a figure in front of a window had appealed to Tissot as early as 1875 in his etching, At the Window. It was a motif he would return to in several of his paintings and prints. Degas, a close friend of Tissot, also employed this interesting compositional idea in such works as Mlle. Olivier Vilete dans l'atelier de l'artiste, 1872 (Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Univerity). The composition of Mavourneen also owes its heritage to Tissot's keen interest in Japanese prints. He was one of the first artists to become interested in Japonisme, along with Manet and Whistler, and is known to have collected Oriental art (see Degas's Portrait of Tissot in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Degas included a painting of a Japanese subject on the wall behind Tissot). His inspiration for Mavourneen, showing a figure boldly placed against a contrasting background, may well be rooted in the Japanese prints and drawings that he so admired.

Tissot's love affair with Kathleen Newton lasted less than ten years. During this time, he immortalized her beautiful face in paintings that are now hailed as his most important works. This was an idyllic and joyful time for Tissot, and he expressed this happiness in the paintings of Kathleen that he produced at his home and gardens at 14 Grove End Road. Mavourneen is one of his most exquisite interpretations of Kathleen, who was described at the time as 'un de ces ravissantes irlandaises'. It shows no foreboding of her untimely death from consumption at the age of twenty-eight. Only the lyrics of the Victorian love song, Kathleen Mavourneen, foretell the tragic final chapter of the love affair of Tissot and Mrs. Newton.

Kathleen Mavourneen! The grey dawn is breaking-
The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill;
The lark from the light wing the bright dew is
shaking, Kathleen Mavourneen! What slumbering
still. Oh, hast thou forgotten, how soon must
we sever? Ah, hast thou forgotten, this day
we must part? It may be for years and it may be
forever; Oh, why why are thou silent, thou voice
of my heart? It may be for years, and it may be
forever; Then why are thou silent, Kathleen
Mavourneen?

Kathleen Mavourneen! Awake from thy slumbers-
The blue mountains glow in the sun's golden light; Ah!
where is the spell that once hung on my
numbers? A rise in the beauty, thou star of my
night. Mavourneen, Mavourneen, my sad tears are
falling, To think that from Erin and thee I must
part? It may be for years and it may be forever;
Then why are thou silent, thou voice of my heart?
It may be for years, and it may be forever; Then
why art thou silent, Kathleen Mavourneen?

(taken from J.N. Crouch, Kathleen Mavourneen, Shattinger-International Music Corp, New York,
1976)