A fine fresh impression of one of Zorn's best known images.

An oil painting of this subject was bought by Mr. George Vanderbilt at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893; the painting, together with a watercolor study, are now in the Vanderbilt collection in Biltmore House, Asheville, North Carolina.

In the original draft of this composition the artist Louis Sparre was dancing in the foreground with Zorn's model Marta Petrini, but in the final version Zorn substituted himself for Sparre. The woman of the couple at the right is Emma Zorn. The setting is a ball given by the Zorns in their Paris studio on the Boulevard de Clichy.

The use of light, the composition, and movement created by the linear patterning make this one of Zorn's most successful compositions.