James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902) began etching in 1860 with the art form's popular revival, but then stopped after 1861 and did not etch again until 1875.  Mrs. Kathleen Newton (1854-1882) was Tissot's primary model during the period of his most intense printmaking activities, appearing in two dozen of his prints.  Until her untimely death of tuberculosis at the age of 28 in the autumn of 1882, Kathleen Newton was the center of Tissot's art and life.  The beautiful divorcee was Tissot's muse and his art a celebration of her beauty.  After Kathleen's death, Tissot returned to Paris and abandoned graphic work almost entirely, working nearly exclusively on illustrating the Old and New Testaments.

In "Les deux Amis", Tissot placed many references to a story that has not been unraveled.  The markings Old England on the lifeboat and New York and Alabama on the bales suggest a parting between two friends, one of whom stays behind in England while the other emigrates to the United States.  The presence of Kathleen Newton in a triple-caped coat, which she frequently wears in Tissot's paintings, implies a connection to one of the two men.  It is possible that the departing protagonist is her brother off  to the United States, but so far it has been impossible to document any of her siblings (except Mary Pauline Hervey) or their movements.  In any case, the picture shows Tissot's interest in the important 19th century theme of emigration and its effect on people in the 19th century [from J.J.Tissot, by Willard E. Misfeldt].