Portrait of Esther

This portrait of the artist's wife creates a complex of elements, composed of the tapestry background of a Morris pattern, and the formalized, profile pose of the head. Lucien Pissarro was an important link between the first generation of Impressionists and their British followers. His personal contact with Cezanne, Seurat and Signac led him to adopt the pointillist techniques which may have influenced his father's style. In the 1890s in London he also represented an awareness of French symbolism, which chimed well with the indigenous work of Beardsley, and the decorative arts of Morris.