María Luisa de la Riva, one of the most renowned women painters of her time in Spain, presented this piece at the Paris Salon of 1885. Although her speciality was flower painting, here she introduced what is almost a touch of local colour in the figure of a florist, who poses alongside her wares as if she too were one more flower. Her presence recalls the modest jobs that awaited hard-up women who lacked any proper professional training, as denounced by Pardo Bazán.

G. Navarro, Carlos, Invitadas. Fragmentos sobre mujeres, ideología y artes plásticas en España (1833-1931), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2020, p.248 nº 52