Christened Jacques-Joseph Tissot after his birth in 1836 at Nantes, on the north-west coast of France where the River Loire meets the Atlantic, the future artist was called James from early childhood, probably thanks to having an English governess. He was enrolled as James Tissot at the Jesuit College in Brugelette, Belgium, in 1848, continuing his education in France from 1850. At first he wanted to be an architect, according to his later recollections, but in 1856 embarked on fine-art studies in Paris. Seeing international paintings exhibited at the Paris 1855 Exposition Universelle is likely to have fuelled his decision. Many of the exhibited paintings made a sufficiently memorable impression on Tissot to be echoed in his early creations...