A dappled light filters through the foliage, imparting an evocative shimmer to the objects before us. The laid table, full of beautiful things, evokes thoughts of middle-class family life and domesticity. Hanna Pauli had recently studied in Paris and had work accepted for the 1887 Salon. A Swedish critic, however, considered her technique too modern, and assumed that the patches of light on the tablecloth were a result of the artist “wiping her brushes on it”.