Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-tissot-2048" aria-label="More by James Tissot" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Tissot</a>
Portsmouth Dockyard
Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941
actions: expressive
adults
architecture
boat - non-specific
clothing and personal items
dock
dockyard
dress: nations/regions
England
England, South East
England, Southern
flirtation
Hampshire
industrial
kilt
man
military
nationality
objects
parasol
people
places
Portsmouth
Scotland
Scottish
sea
seascapes and coasts
sex and relationships
ship - non-specific
society
soldier
talking
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
woman
work and occupations
<p>This picture illustrates the traditional story of a man trying to choose between two women. The Highland Sergeant turns away from his rather sullen-looking companion and looks at the woman speaking to him, indicating that he has made his choice.This is a reworking of James Tissot’s painting<i> The Thames</i> which shocked audiences when it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1876 because of the questionable sexual morals of its characters. This painting was exhibited as a corrective.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
4 November 2005 – 12 February 2006
2006-02-12
4 November 2005 – 12 February 2006
2006-02-12
2005-11-04
Musée des Beaux-Arts (Nantes, France)
2005-11-04
James Tissot (1836 - 1902) and his Masters
Loan-out
15 April 2006 – 18 June 2006
2006-06-18
1 April 2006 – 30 June 2006
2006-06-30
2006-04-01
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Bristol, UK)
http://www.bristol-city.gov.uk
2006-04-15
Brunel and the Art of Invention
Loan-out
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
2012-01-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-01-31
Migrations
Exhibition
26 September 2015 – 21 February 2016
2016-02-21
26 September 2015 – 21 February 2016
2016-02-21
2015-09-26
Chiostro del Bramante (Rome, Italy)
http://www.chiostrodelbramante.it/
2015-09-26
James Tissot
Loan-out
2 November 2017 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2 November 2017 – 7 May 2018
2018-05-07
2017-11-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
21 June 2018 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2018-06-21
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France)
2017-11-02
Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile, 1870-1904
Exhibition
2 November 2017 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
20 June 2018 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2018-06-20
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France)
2017-11-02
Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile, 1870 - 1904
Loan-out
21 September 2019 – 1 February 2020
2020-02-01
21 September 2019 – 1 February 2020
2020-02-01
2019-09-21
Portsmouth Museum (Portsmouth, UK)
2019-09-21
Portsmouth Revisited
Loan-out
12 October 2019 – 13 September 2020
2020-09-13
22 March 2020 – 13 September 2020
2020-09-13
2020-03-22
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2019-10-12
James Tissot, 1836-1902
Loan-out
21 February 2025 – 5 May 2025
2025-05-05
21 February 2025 – 5 May 2025
2025-05-05
2025-02-21
Ferens Art Gallery (Hull, UK)
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/museumcollections
2025-02-21
Sirens: Women and the Sea
Loan-out
Portsmouth Dockyard
support: 381 × 546 mm
frame: 556 × 716 × 75 mm
Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941
<p>This picture illustrates the traditional story of a man trying to choose between two women. The Highland Sergeant turns away from his rather sullen-looking companion and looks at the woman speaking to him, indicating that he has made his choice.This is a reworking of James Tissot’s painting<i> The Thames</i> which shocked audiences when it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1876 because of the questionable sexual morals of its characters. This painting was exhibited as a corrective.</p>

Display caption
2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>James Tissot</b><span> 1836-1902 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/tissot-portsmouth-dockyard-n05302" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05302</span></a> </span><b>Portsmouth Dockyard</b><span>
</span><i>c.</i><span>1877 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'J.J. Tissot' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 15 x 21 1/2 (38 x 54.5)</span>
<br/><span>Bequeathed by Sir Hugh Walpole 1941</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
Henry Jump, Gateacre, Lancs.; James Jump, Ipswich; Capt. Henry Jump, Heytesbury; sold by him at Christie's, London, 26 April 1937, lot 44 as 'Divided Attention'; bt. Leicester Galleries, London, 58 gns.; Sir Hugh Walpole, London</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
Grosvenor Gallery, London, May-June 1877 (25) as 'Portsmouth Dockyard'; </span><i>Victorian Life</i><span>, Leicester Galleries, London, June-July 1937 (106, repr.) as 'Entre les Deux mon Coeur balance'; </span><i>The Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, National Gallery, London, April-May 1942 (136) as 'How happy could he be with either'; </span><i>A Selection from the Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, CEMA touring exhibition, September 1942-September 1943 (97); </span><i>Marine Paintings</i><span>, Arts Council touring exhibition, October 1965-April 1966 (39)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Sacheverell Sitwell, </span><i>Narrative Pictures</i><span> (London 1937), pp.92, 118, repr. pl.131</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
</span><i>Apollo</i><span>, XXVI, 1937, p.108 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>This picture was first exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 under the title 'Portsmouth Dockyard', as is proved by the descriptions of it in several of the reviews, e.g. 'the picture of Portsmouth Dockyard (25), in which a happy Highland sergeant finds himself to his huge content afloat in company with two sprightly ladies' (</span><i>The Times</i><span>, May 1877, p.10) and 'his Highland sergeant, nursing meditatively his knees in the boat which conveys him and two young girls and their parasols across the dock at Portsmouth (25)' (</span><i>The Pictorial World</i><span>, 12 May 1877, p.166). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Tissot made a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drypoint" title="Glossary definition for 'Drypoint'"><span>drypoint</span></a> after it in 1877 which he entitled 'Entre les Deux mon Coeur balance' (</span><i>J.J. Tissot: Eaux-fortes, Manière Noire, Pointes Sèches</i><span>, Paris 1886, No.26). The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> was previously catalogued under this title. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>It was first identified as 'Portsmouth Dockyard' by Willard E. Misfeldt. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.723-4, reproduced p.723</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive adults architecture boat - non-specific clothing and personal items dock dockyard dress: nations/regions England England, South East England, Southern flirtation Hampshire industrial kilt man military nationality objects parasol people places Portsmouth Scotland Scottish sea seascapes and coasts sex and relationships ship - non-specific society soldier talking townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions woman work and occupations