Tissot plays to the idea of luxury, langour, and love. Idly reading her newspaper, Kathleen Newton tempts the male viewer with a glimpse of petticoat. The sleeping dog appears as Tissot’s alter-ego; dogs were associated with both fidelity and sexual desire. With its yellow paper cover, the book on the rug is probably French, and this too may be a symbolic hint at Tissot’s own presence, as though he may just have been sitting and reading at his mistress’s feet. http://books0977.tumblr.com/page/7