Couple seated at a table

The anecdote implied by this scene is ambiguous. We cannot be certain whether the woman is reading a small book or holding a hand of cards. Her relationship to the smoker is not clear. However, the drawing does reveal the artist's interest in illustration during the late 1850s. A very slight underdrawing is still visible beneath the two figures, particularly in the faint outline of a head to the left of the bonneted woman and another head to the right of the hatted man. Whistler later elaborated his quick sketch, recording such details as the woman's enormous challis shawl, the plaid pattern of her skirt, and the curve of the man's pipe. Whistler created textural interest by varying the thickness of line, and he added a good deal of shading. He also vignetted the two figures in an oval composition with blank space at the corners. Whistler continued to use this popular device, borrowed from magazine illustration, in later works-for example, some of the Venetian drawings and etchings executed in 1879-1880.