Frederic (Joseph, Pierre, Timothee) Soulacroix was born into a prominent artistic family. His father, a talented French sculptor and painter, married Italian fresco painter Giancinta Diofebo, with whom he collaborated on several fresco commissions. The talented young Soulacroix entered the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1873 and was later accepted into its prestigious School of Painting where he was exposed to romantic genre painting.

The painting offered here is a fine example of his mature work that from the late 1870s represents a unique mixture of Rococo subject matter (courting couples and frivolous tea parties in gardens and parlors) and Neo-Classical draftsmanship within Empire-style settings. The ...