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This painting shows that Rippl had freed himself from Munkácsy's influence and that he was in search of new ways. J.P. Knowles introduced the art of Whistler to him whose elegant expression and greyish-black colours influenced the young Rippl. In his longish pictures, Rippl painted mostly interiors with tools controlled and a sensitive kind of portrayal was accompanied by delicate arrangement. The graceful woman posing in a somewhat affected way in the front, and the undistinctive background indicate that Rippl was using a model, but details emphasizing decorativity in planes, colours deliberately subdued and delicate brushwork reflect a new approach. After giving up academic genre painting of the 19th c., Ripple did the first step towards art nouveau and post-impressionism similar to Whistler's art.
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