In the photograph is a painting by the English artist Charles Burton Barber (1845–1894) called "Suspense", in which the household pets wait impatiently but obediently for the girl to finish her prayer before breakfast, so that they can beg a morsel.
The original painting. Photograph from Christie's.
Between us we established that the girl lives in a wealthy house and is rather spoilt, but keeps to her morning ritual all the same.
What we certainly missed is that what we see is not breakfast.
Children might breakfast and dine with the adults, and breakfast in houses like this was more substantial and more interesting than what is shown.
Which means the photograph shows a bite before breakfast proper, brought to her in bed. There is a present in the foreground, so it is most likely some unusual day — a birthday, perhaps.
The girl has not yet washed, and a snack in bed like this was an indulgence that made the morning a little less grim. After all, she had to get up in the cold, wash, dress, and so on.
But the subject here is a slightly different one. I first saw this painting as a print — a printed copy of the picture. And the print carried one small detail that differed from the original painting.
You can try comparing the first two photographs right now. Just pay no attention to the print's colouring; that part is not deliberate.
The advertising print made from the painting.
The main difference is what is written on the little box in the foreground. Pears was England's leading soap maker; it bought the painting from the artist and began circulating prints with its own logo on the present.
To any English person the thought was a simple one: the girl will soon be washing, and here is soap as a gift. The very best soap, naturally. And you too will look like this, and have prosperity, wealth and happiness. What was being advertised was not soap but status, and feeling.
This was a gathering snowball of image-led, suggestive advertising for the products of the chemical industry.
The painting "Bubbles".
Here is another painting of the same period, called "Bubbles".
It too was bought up by the makers of that same soap, and turned into an advertising poster.
A Pears advertising poster.
How I came to notice the painting at the top. I had already seen commemorative Pears soap porcelain, from when their advertising was printed on all sorts of objects, soap dishes among them.
Lord Nelson Pottery.