In the late 1890s Pissarro once again allowed himself to learn from his younger peers, and Jeanne lisant represents one of his few Nabi-like paintings. Bonnard, Vuillard and his friends constituted a group of like-minded young "prophets" (Nabi being the Hebrew word for prophet) who painted in a dark, heavily textured manner and often chose as subjects members of their own families in somewhat claustrophobic or psychologically charged settings.

Deftly, Pissarro has turned this approach to his own delightul measure in this guileless portrait of Jeanne, his eighteen-year-old daughter. After she completed boarding school, Pissarro was anxious to interest her in art as he did his two sons, and supervised her outings and studies with that in mind (it is perhaps significant he has chosen to show her reading rather than at a domestic task).

With its magnificent attention to detail and array of sumptuous materials, as well as glimpses of other paintings within the interior, one wonders if Matisse might not have seen and been profoundly influenced by this exotic work.