Focus on A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881 and analyze the Influences.
Frith was inspired by the satirical cartoons of George du Maurier (whose head is visible between the orange and green attired aesthetes at the left) and by Gilbert and Sullivan's popular operetta Patience, first performed in 1881. The aesthetic costumes are characterised by features such as gigot sleeves and the "Watteau pleats" seen in the figure to the left of Wilde, wearing pink. The women in the centre along with the one to the right of Wilde with the child represent normal fashionable clothing of the day. These aspects of dress and pose, along with the myopic figure next to Millais, show the influence of Watteau's 1720-21 painting L'Enseigne de Gersaint.
L'Enseigne de Gersaint gigot sleeves Watteau pleats Patience Gilbert and Sullivan George du Maurier