3-066-092 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Afternoon Tea, 1881. 'At the elegant and luxurious villa residence of a wealthy planter in South America, upon the marble verge of a garden terrace shadowed with tropical verdure, overlooking a basin of water in which the Victoria Regia displayed its broad leaves and big white blossoms, sat the ladies of the family, accompanied by a gentleman visitor, refreshing themselves with the mildest entertainment after a sultry noontide - two hours of mid-day having been already spent in the needful siesta. Donna Mariquita, agreeably to the wish of her sisters, had commanded the tea apparatus, with a dish of fruit, to be placed out there for the dainty little repast with which they would beguile the tedious languishment of a warm afternoon; and they were presently joined by Valentino, escaped from his routine of light official business, and prepared to chat with them of matters congenial to feminine taste'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.