''Portrait of Madame Brunet'' is an oil painting on canvas by
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Bo ...
, begun in 1861 and completed in 1863. Its subject is Caroline de Pène, the wife of the sculptor
Eugène Cyrille Brunet.
[Manet, Édouard, Mary Anne Stevens, and Lawrence W. Nichols. ''Manet: Portraying Life''. Toledo: Toledo Museum of Art. 2012. p. 191. ] According to Duret she was not beautiful and – although Manet flattered her – she burst into tears when she first saw the painting.
It originally depicted the sitter full-length, but by 1867 Manet had cut away the bottom section.
The tonality of the painting, with its emphasis on black, shows the influence of Spanish art, and
Diego Velázquez in particular.
Velázquez's ''Philip IV as a Hunter'' has been suggested as a likely inspiration for the landscape background.
The painting was acquired from the private Payne-Whitney collection in
New York (largely built up by
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (January 9, 1875 – April 18, 1942) was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She was a prominent social figure and hostess, ...
) by the
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
, in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, in 2011.
Title
When first exhibiting the work in 1867, Manet entitled it ''Portrait of Madame B.''. At that exhibition Moreau-Nélaton referred to it as ''La Parisienne de 1862'' (''The Parisian Woman of 1862'').
Tabarant stated its subject to be Madame Brunet, née Penne, and called the painting ''La Femme au gant'' (''Woman with a Glove'').
In 1902,
Théodore Duret
Théodore Duret (20 January 1838, Saintes – 16 January 1927, Paris) was a French journalist, author and art critic. He was one of the first advocates of Courbet, Manet, and the Impressionists. One of his best known works is ''Critique d'Ava ...
retitled the work ''Jeune dame en 1860'' (''Young Woman in 1860'').
The work was mocked by the popular press
and refused by its subject, remaining in Manet's studio for a long time. It appears in the inventory of his works as number 14 with the title ''Woman with a Glove, Fashion of 1850'', being retitled ''Young Woman of 1860'' at the 1884 sale of his works.
[ Rouart-Wildenstein 1975 tome I, p. 27] Just after the sale, Durand-Ruel sold it to
Jacques-Émile Blanche
Jacques-Émile Blanche (; 1 January 1861 – 30 September 1942) was a French artist, largely self-taught, who became a successful portrait painter, working in London and Paris.
Early life
Blanche was born in Paris. His father, whose name he s ...
, who sold on the painting around 1930 to the
galerie Knoedler in Paris. It was then acquired by Mrs Charles S. Payson née Joan Witney.
See also
*
List of paintings by Édouard Manet
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
1860 in art
References
Bibliography
* Timothy James Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999, 376 p. ()
* Françoise Cachin, Charles S. Moffett et Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Manet 1832–1883, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1983, 544 p. ()
* Adolphe Tabarant, Manet et ses œuvres, Paris, Gallimard, 1947, 600 p.
* Adolphe Tabarant, Les Manet de la collection Havemeyer : La Renaissance de l'art français, Paris, 1930, XIII éd.
* Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Manet raconté par lui-même, vol. 2, t. I, Paris, Henri Laurens, 1926
* Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Manet raconté par lui-même, vol. 2, t. I, Paris, Henri Laurens, 1926
* Henri Loyrette and Gary Tinterow, Impressionnisme : Les origines, 1859–1869, 476 p. ()
* Collectif RMN, Manet inventeur du moderne, Paris, 2011, 297 p. ()
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of Madame Brunet
Portraits of women
Portraits by Édouard Manet
1860s paintings
Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum