This painting called "Namouna" was completed in the summer of 1890. "Namouna" is the actual name of the yacht depicted in the painting. This piece of art stood out among its counterparts in the gallery due to its sheer vividness and realism. The artist was born in Philadelphia but his family relocated to Paris when he was ten years old. He would live out the rest of his years in Europe where he would have a formidable career in artistry being commissioned to paint many paintings such as this masterpiece. This particular piece is composed of oil on canvas as were many of the paintings of this period. The painting is striking in its attention to scale and proportion. It draws you in almost as if the scene were captured on film which makes the painting progressive for its time. The colors are real and vibrant and the scene is balanced in contextual reality. The painting is large in scope and does well in capturing both the exotic landscape and the laissez-faire mood depicted in the piece. The use of light also adds to the overall texture and the underlying feel of excess in the aura of the atmosphere. The painting was commissioned by James Gordon Bennet, who was the playboy publisher of the New York and Paris Herald. At the time, the yacht pictured was the largest of its kind and Louis C. Tiffany was paid to design the mosiacs and the glass features throughout the yacht. The scene pictured here is not original to the genre of the period but is definitive of the many works that sought to propagate the immense wealth and social status of many of the young American and European elite. First off, a scene of leisurely boating on the water is noted as the viewers primary focus, but upon further study a certain level of sexual undertones becomes widely apparent. Certain mannerisms are acutely depicted and are parallel to some of our more modern visions of cultural sexual innuendo within our own societal norms. This focus on the defunct morality of the wealthy and the young is quite similar to our own experience with the recorded behavior of many young, rich actors, athletes, and socialites of our era. So, indeed, there is nothing new under the sun and art continues to record history and foreshadow the future.