NARRATOR:
In this portrait of his wife, Édouard Manet suggests his interest in fashion and his commitment to portraiture. The warm, creamy tones of Suzanne Leenhoff’s face are magnificently rendered against the muted, non-descript background. Her chest and gently sloping shoulders are evoked with a few bold brushstrokes.
The embellished black comb, headband, necklace and ruffled collar all reflect Manet’s sustained attention to the details of a woman’s toilette, even in a rapidly sketched portrait such as this.
To hear more about that relationship, press 3281.
Madame Manet
1874-1876
Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
On View
Manet met his future wife, Suzanne Leenhoff, in 1850, when she arrived in his parents’ household as a piano teacher. Before their marriage, Suzanne served as the model for Manet’s first history painting, and she continued through the succeeding decades to sit for private portraits like this one, painted in the mid-1870s. Capturing the quiet beauty and famously even temper of its subject, this picture also demonstrates a new freshness and informality of handling: Manet’s response to the emerging Impressionist style, particularly the work of Berthe Morisot.
Details
- Artist Name: Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
- Title: Madame Manet
- Date: 1874-1876
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 23-7/8 x 20 in. (60.6 x 50.8 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: M.1973.4.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
The artist; gift to;
George Moore (1852–1933), London, by bequest in 1933 to;
Lady Cunard (Maud Alice Burke, 1872–1948)), London, by bequest to;
Sir Robert Abdy, consigned 30 September 1952 to [Arthur Tooth & Sons], but sold 17 November 1952 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold 1956 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1973 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation
George Moore (1852–1933), London, by bequest in 1933 to;
Lady Cunard (Maud Alice Burke, 1872–1948)), London, by bequest to;
Sir Robert Abdy, consigned 30 September 1952 to [Arthur Tooth & Sons], but sold 17 November 1952 to;
[Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold 1956 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1973 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation
Tableaux de M. Édouard Manet
- Paris, Avenue de l'Alma, 1867-05 to 1867-05
- Meier-Græfe, Julius, Edouard Manet,fig. 125
- Daragon, Éric, Manet,fig. 91
- Pool, Phoebe; and Sandra Orienti, The Complete Paintings of Manet,no. 107 p. 96
- Waldmann, Emil, Kunst and Künstler, pp. 43, 52
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 124
- Venturi, Marcello; and Sandra Orienti, L'opera pittorica di Edouard Manet,no. 107 p. 96
- Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne, Manet raconté par lui-même,n.1 (no. 14), fig. 114 pp. 86, 95
- Armstrong, Carol, Manet/Manette,fig. 12 pp. 21, 24
- Zola, Emile, Revue du XXe siécle, p. 59
- Rouart, Denis; and Sandra Orienti, Tout l'oeuvre peint d'Edouard Manet,no. 106 p. 96
- Tabarant, Adolphe, Manet: Histoire catalographique,no. 120 pp. 161, 578
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,2006,
- Duret, Théodore, Histoire d'Édouard Manet et son oeuvre. Avec un catalogue des peintures et des pastels,no. 105 p. 37
- Rouart, Denis; and Daniel Wildenstein, Edouart Manet,no. 116 p. 113
- Jamot, Paul; and Georges Wildenstein, Manet,vol 1, p. 135, no. 144; vol II. fig. 163 p. 135
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 30 p. 247
- Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne, Catalogue manuscrit de l'oeuvre de Manet,no. 106
- Sutton, Denys, Apollo,fig. 7 p. 171
- Tabarant, Adolphe, Manet et ses oeuvres,fig. 123 pp. 80, 129-130, 134, 536, 606
- Pullins, David, Manet: Three Paintings From the Norton Simon Museum,2019, fig. 24 p. 6, pp. 11-14, 17, 18, pp. 63-79, p. 81, 92; p. [10] (ill.), p. [62] (ill.), p. 81 (ill.)
- The Times, p. 5
- Trotter, Bob, The Virginia Pilot,
- Courthion, Pierre, Manet reconté par lui-même et par ses amis, pp. 96, 97; p. 53
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