Victorine Meurent by Manet in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, January 2018

Victorine Meurent

Edouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)

about 1862

Medium/Technique: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 42.9 x 43.8 cm (16 7/8 x 17 1/4 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Richard C. Paine in memory of his father, Robert Treat Paine 2nd

Accession Number: 46.846

Collections: Europe

Classifications: Paintings


Victorine-Louise Meurent (1844-1927) was a professional artist’s model and painter in her own right, exhibiting work at the Paris Salon in 1876 and after. This portrait is Manet’s first painting featuring Meurent; she modelled for, and was arguably an artistic collaborator in, many of the artist’s most ambitions paintings including "Street Singer" (66.304), "Olympia," and "Le déjeuner sur l’herbe" (both in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Extant details of Meurent’s own biography and artistic career are few, and her identity has often regrettably become conflated with the figures she portrayed.
InscriptionsUpper right: manet
ProvenanceBy 1901, William Burrell (b. 1861 - d. 1958), Glasgow; May 16, 1902, Burrell sale, Christie's, London, lot 146, not sold [see note 1]. By 1905 until at least 1906, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris [see note 2]. 1912, possibly Manzi, Joyant et Cie. [see note 3]. By 1914 until at least 1925, Alphonse Kann (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Paris [see note 4]. Paul Rosenberg et Cie., Paris [see note 5]. By 1931, Robert Treat Paine II (b. 1861 - d. 1943), Boston; by descent to his son, Richard C. Paine, Boston; 1946, gift of Richard C. Paine to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 12, 1946)

NOTES:
[1] William Burrell lent the painting to the Glasgow International Exhibition, 1901. The information about the Burrell sale comes from a letter from Christie's, London (May 14, 1975; in MFA curatorial file). It has been conjectured that he purchased the painting from the Glasgow art dealer Alexander Reid; see Douglas Cooper, "The Courtauld Collection, a Catalogue and Introduction" (London, 1954), pp. 64-65.
[2] A Bernheim-Jeune label dated 1906 is on the reverse of the painting.
[3] It was included in the "Exposition d'art moderne," Manzi, Joyant et Cie., Paris, 1912, cat. no. 25.
[4] Kann lent it to the exhibitions "Art Français: Exposition d'Art décoratif contemporain, 1800-1885" (Grosvenor House, London, 1914), cat. no. 36 and "Cinquante ans de Peinture Française" (Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris, 1925), cat. no. 41.
[5] According to A. Tabarant, "Manet et ses oeuvres" (Paris, 1947), p. 58.


Text from: collections.mfa.org/objects/32976/victorine-meurent