What is unusual about this Marchande de fleurs is that she is not French but English, and one of only two working-class subjects that Bastien-Lepage completed in London, the other being Le petit cireur de bottes (1882, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris). Bastien-Lepage first visited London in 1879 when two of his portraits were included in the Royal Academy exhibition of that year. He used this opportunity to find prospective clients for portraits, returning to paint a portrait of the Prince of Wales (Portrait du Prince de Galles, 1879, Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London), and again, for the last time, in 1882. [Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 173 x 90.2 cm]