In this painting, the artist made a double portrait of his two sisters. Nathalie, on the left, interrupts her embroidery to look at the artist, and Marie, on the right, continues reading. Their black dresses with white collars seem to be school uniforms. The composition is balanced by two white diagonal lines forming an X shape, made up of the embroidery, Nathalie’s sleeve and Marie’s collar, and of Nathalie’s sleeve, the book, and Marie’s sleeve.
