Seamstresses Having a Coffee Break

Afternoon Coffee, Venice; Cecil van Haanen (1844-1914), The Netherlands, England, oil on canvas

I enjoyed seeing this on view at the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand the other week. What do you notice in the painting? According to the text, “The convivial image of seamstresses having a coffee break details some of the tools and processes involved in their craft. In the foreground, a fashion illustration, probably torn from a popular magazine, sits atop a length of cloth laid out for cutting. The flat iron had to be heated on a stovetop, and a collapsible wooden cotton winder holds thread ready for use. Although the sewing machine had been introduced in the 1850’s, everything here appears to be sewn by hand.”