Afternoon Langour 

Jean-Joseph-Benjamin Constant made this oil painting, Afternoon Langour, using techniques that were standard for the time. It is easy to overlook just how material the act of painting is, but notice how the very consistency of the pigment creates a sense of density and atmosphere, especially in the fabrics and the ornamentation in the background. It's a world of piled-up stuff, all rendered with the same loving attention. This has social significance, because we can tell that the making of such a painting was painstaking work. And it pictures a world in which the materials of life – fabrics, carpets, metalware – were also produced by hand, and were valuable for that reason. Constant is inviting us to admire the world of labor required to produce such finery, even as he depicts a scene of leisure. He wants us to recognize value in the making.