Details

Object type

pastel

Title

Portrait of a Woman

Artist/Maker

Édouard Manet artist

Culture/School

French

Place Associated

France, Paris

Date

circa 1882-1883

Materials

pastel on primed linen canvas

Dimensions

overall: 380 mm x 331 mm x 35 mm; overall: 254 mm x 203 mm

Description

Manet painted over sixty pastels of women sitters. Almost all of these works were produced during the last years of his life when his mobility was impaired due to his ill health. It is possible that Manet was working on this portrait in April 1883, for Manet’s wife seemingly found it on the artist’s easel after his death. Mme Manet is then said to have signed the work, and dated it, in error,1882.

This pastel is traditionally thought to be a portrait of Elisa, who was companion and lady’s maid to one of Manet’s closest friends, the actress Méry Laurent (1849-1900). During the last years of Manet’s life, Elisa regularly brought Manet armfuls of flowers. Manet, who delighted in these flowers, was inspired to paint numerous still-lifes of them. His Roses in a Champagne Glass – also in The Burrell Collection - once belonged to Méry Laurent.

Of all Manet’s Impressionist friends only Renoir also frequently used pastel for his portraits of women. If we compare, however, Manet’s portrait with Renoir’s Girl with Auburn Hair - also in The Burrell Collection - we see how differently the two artists used the medium of pastel. Unlike Manet, Renoir never risked using canvas as a support for the fragile pastel medium.

Why should Manet have chosen to work in pastel rather than oil? It seems that pastel allowed Manet greater freedom and it also allowed him to use lighter, softer colours which were more appropriate and flattering for his portraits of female sitters. From the evidence of Manet’s contemporaries we know that his sitters - usually society women and women of the demi-monde - were enchanted by these portraits.

Like Manet, Degas sometimes executed portraits in the difficult medium of pastel on canvas or on fine linen. Compare Manet’s Portrait of a Woman with Degas’s Portrait of Duranty, which is also in The Burrell Collection. The scale of the works is different – the Manet is tiny compared to the Degas.

Duranty is seen, half-length, seated in his own study while Elisa’s bust-length portrait is placed against a neutral background. Unlike Degas, Manet has no intention of probing the psychology of his sitter. Manet’s female sitters are painted almost as if they were flowers. He is attentive to their elegance, to their refinement. Unlike Degas, Manet is not curious about his sitter’s personality or how her character may be traced on her face.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Pictures [Oils, Pastels and Watercolours]

ID Number

35.311

Location

In storage

Related People

Suzanne Manet owner

Elisa Sosset sitter