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Although his work changed throughout his career, early on Gaston de Latouche belonged loosely to the Impressionist circle through his association with Édouard Manet. Latouche explored subjects—such as that seen here—taken from the lives of working-class Parisians. This print represents a scene from naturalist author Émile Zola’s novel L’Assommoir, which detailed the rise and fall of a laundress named Gervaise. Latouche is said to have collaborated with the author on the imagery and exhibited the entire series at the public Paris Salon in 1879.