Acquisitions 2011

Level 2, Room 67

Classified a "national treasure" in 1998, The Circle of the Rue Royale by James Tissot has just been added to the museum's collection. This is an important group portrait depicting the members of a very high class male club, gathered on a balcony overlooking the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The purchase of this large format constitutes for the Musée d'Orsay a major acquisition both in historical and aesthetical terms. Typical of the political and mundane atmosphere of the late Second Empire, the painting marks the point when young Tissot began to be recognised as one of the most talented painters of his generation.
In The Circle of the Rue Royale, he demonstrated his thorough style as a modern portrait painter, delivering a piece that is emblematic of his production of the 1860s, before settling in England where his portraits were to see tremendous success.

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