Jean Béraud’s Après l'office à l'église de la Sainte Trinité, Noël, 1890, depicts elegant parishioners leaving the Church of the Holy Trinity, now known as The American Cathedral in Paris, on Christmas day. Men sport their fine coats and top hats, children are smartly dressed and women are adorned in furs and elaborate chapeaus with lace veils, their long dresses in hues of green and red. The parishioners’ fashions and the carriages and drivers are punctuated with brilliant strokes of colour, all serving to draw the viewer’s eye to the two flags hanging over the church’s entrance, sister ensigns that act as a clear and poignant symbol of Franco-American friendship.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on panel, 50.5 x 67.3 cm]