The Trio typifies Williams’s romantic, arcadian figure paintings. Inspired by the fetes galantes of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Williams dressed his female subjects in flowing gowns and elaborate coiffures of the rococo period and placed them in a forest setting pursuing some form of leisurely merriment. The activity is always sweet and innocent. Here two lovely young maidens collect flowers as the third figure, in the back, plays her guitar and serenades them. Following the example of Adolphe Monticelli (1824-1886) and his highly impastoed surfaces, Williams applied his paint thickly, layering the glazes with scumbling so that the surface appears to be encrusted. He restricted the palette to the deep, sumptuous hues of the forest: oranges, ochers, greens, and browns.
The entire painting has an effervescence as light flickers over the jewellike surface. In paintings such as this Williams carried on the late nineteenth-century American romantic spirit of Blakelock and Daingerfield.