In the Conservatory

In 1881 the Paris Salon was run by the artists themselves for the first time, after the state handed it over to a new Society of French Artists. Albert Bartholomé showed this life-size picture there, of his wife Prospérie stepping in from the garden through the door of a glasshouse. Around her are the things a well-off Parisian household liked to display at the time, with potted palms, a flowering shrub, green louvred blinds and a sunny lawn leading to a pale house. Her outfit is painted with near-documentary care, from the dark bow at her throat to the striped sleeves, the dotted bodice and the pleated violet-black skirt. The Musée d'Orsay received the painting in 1990 as a gift from its friends' society, and the actual dress joined it in the collection a year later.