Victorine Meurent
Encyclopedia
Victorine Louise Meurent (February 18, 1844 – March 17, 1927) was a French
painter
and a famous model
for painters.
Although she is now best known as the favourite model of Édouard Manet
, she also was an artist in her own right, who exhibited repeatedly at the prestigious Paris Salon. In 1876 her paintings were selected for inclusion at the Salon's juried
exhibition, when Manet's work was not.
Born in Paris
to a family of artisans (Victorine's father was a patina
tor of bronzes, while her mother was a milliner), Meurent started modeling at the age of sixteen in the studio of Thomas Couture
. She first worked for Manet in 1862, posing for a painting entitled, The Street Singer. Manet was first drawn to Victorine when he saw her in the street, carrying her guitar. Victorine was particularly noticeable for her petite stature and her red hair, which is depicted as very bright in Manet's watercolour copy of "Olympia". As well as playing the guitar, Victorine also played the violin, gave lessons in the two instruments, and sang in café-concert
s.
Her name remains forever associated with Manet's masterpiece
s, The Luncheon on the Grass
and Olympia, which include nude portrayals of her. During this time period she also modeled for Edgar Degas
and the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens
, both close friends of Manet. Her relationship with Stevens is said to have been particularly close.
Manet continued to use Victorine Meurent as a model until the early 1870s, when she began taking art classes and they became estranged, as Victorine was drawn to the more academic style of painting against which Manet's work was in opposition. The last painting by Manet in which Meurent appears is Gare Saint-Lazare, which is often referred to as The Railway, painted in 1873. The painting is considered the best example of Manet's first use of the modern approach to subject matter.
Three years later, Victorine Meurent first presented work of her own at the 1876 Salon and her work was accepted—ironically, Manet's own submissions were rejected by the jury that year. Bourgeoise de Nuremberg au XVIe siècle, Meurent's entry at the Académie des Beaux-Arts
in 1879, was hung in the same room as the entry by Manet. Work by Meurent also was included in the 1885 and 1904 exhibitions. In all, Victorine Meurent exhibited in the Salon six times. Meurent also continued to support herself by modelling through the 1880s for Norbert Goeneutte, an artist best known for his etchings today, and Toulouse-Lautrec, who was taken to introducing her as "Olympia".
Meurent was inducted into the Société des Artistes Français
in 1903, with the support of Charles Hermann-Leon and Tony Robert-Fleury
, the Société's founder. By 1906, Meurent had left Paris for the suburb of Colombes
, where she lived with a woman named Marie Dufour for the remainder of her life. The two appear to have shared ownership of their house. In her eighties, she continued to refer to herself as an artist, as recorded in a census from that time. Meurent died on March 17, 1927. After the death of Dufour, in 1930, the contents of the house were liquidated; in the late 20th century, elderly neighbours recalled the last contents of the house, including a violin and its case, being burnt on a bonfire.
A painting by Meurent, Le Jour des Rameaux or Palm Sunday was recovered in 2004 and now hangs in the Colombes History Museum.
included Meurent as a character in his semi-fictional autobiography, Memoirs of My Dead Life. She appears as a middle-aged woman past her prime, living in a lesbian relationship with a famous courtesan.
More recently, Victorine Meurent's life has inspired two historical novels, Mademoiselle Victorine by Debra Finerman and A Woman With No Clothes On
by V R Main. She also appears as a character in a film called Manet in Love.
It is a derivative name from Morand, which itself comes from Latin's name Maurandus based on the Latin noun Maurus which mean Moor.
There is no relation with the third person plural of "to die" meurent (i.e. "they die") even if it's the same spelling. It is never pronounced like the verb.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and a famous model
Model (art)
Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...
for painters.
Although she is now best known as the favourite model of Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
, she also was an artist in her own right, who exhibited repeatedly at the prestigious Paris Salon. In 1876 her paintings were selected for inclusion at the Salon's juried
Juried (competition)
A juried competition is a competition in which participants' work is judged by a person or panel of persons convened specifically to judge the participants' efforts, either by the competition's stated rubric or by a subjective set of criteria dependent upon the nature of the competition or the...
exhibition, when Manet's work was not.
Biography
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to a family of artisans (Victorine's father was a patina
Patina
Patina is a tarnish that forms on the surface of bronze and similar metals ; a sheen on wooden furniture produced by age, wear, and polishing; or any such acquired change of a surface through age and exposure...
tor of bronzes, while her mother was a milliner), Meurent started modeling at the age of sixteen in the studio of Thomas Couture
Thomas Couture
Thomas Couture was an influential French history painter and teacher. Couture taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Karel Javůrek, and J-N Sylvestre.-Life:He was born at Senlis, Oise, France...
. She first worked for Manet in 1862, posing for a painting entitled, The Street Singer. Manet was first drawn to Victorine when he saw her in the street, carrying her guitar. Victorine was particularly noticeable for her petite stature and her red hair, which is depicted as very bright in Manet's watercolour copy of "Olympia". As well as playing the guitar, Victorine also played the violin, gave lessons in the two instruments, and sang in café-concert
Café-chantant
Café chantant is a type of musical establishment associated with the belle époque in France. Although there is much overlap of definition with cabaret, music hall, vaudeville, etc. the café chantant was originally an outdoor café where small groups of performers performed popular music for the...
s.
Her name remains forever associated with Manet's masterpiece
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
s, The Luncheon on the Grass
The Luncheon on the Grass
Le déjeuner sur l'herbe – originally titled Le Bain – is a large oil on canvas painting by Édouard Manet created in 1862 and 1863. The painting depicts the juxtaposition of a female nude and a scantily dressed female bather on a picnic with two fully dressed men in a rural setting...
and Olympia, which include nude portrayals of her. During this time period she also modeled for Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
and the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens
Alfred Stevens (painter)
Alfred Émile Léopold Stevens was a Belgian painter.Alfred Stevens was born in Brussels. He came from a family involved with the visual arts: his older brother Joseph and his son Léopold were painters, while another brother Arthur was an art dealer and critic...
, both close friends of Manet. Her relationship with Stevens is said to have been particularly close.
Manet continued to use Victorine Meurent as a model until the early 1870s, when she began taking art classes and they became estranged, as Victorine was drawn to the more academic style of painting against which Manet's work was in opposition. The last painting by Manet in which Meurent appears is Gare Saint-Lazare, which is often referred to as The Railway, painted in 1873. The painting is considered the best example of Manet's first use of the modern approach to subject matter.
Three years later, Victorine Meurent first presented work of her own at the 1876 Salon and her work was accepted—ironically, Manet's own submissions were rejected by the jury that year. Bourgeoise de Nuremberg au XVIe siècle, Meurent's entry at the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
in 1879, was hung in the same room as the entry by Manet. Work by Meurent also was included in the 1885 and 1904 exhibitions. In all, Victorine Meurent exhibited in the Salon six times. Meurent also continued to support herself by modelling through the 1880s for Norbert Goeneutte, an artist best known for his etchings today, and Toulouse-Lautrec, who was taken to introducing her as "Olympia".
Meurent was inducted into the Société des Artistes Français
Société des artistes français
The Société des Artistes Français is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the Salon....
in 1903, with the support of Charles Hermann-Leon and Tony Robert-Fleury
Tony Robert-Fleury
Tony Robert-Fleury was a French painter.He was born just outside Paris, and studied under his father Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury and under Delaroche and Léon Cogniet....
, the Société's founder. By 1906, Meurent had left Paris for the suburb of Colombes
Colombes
Colombes is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:On 13 March 1896, 17% of the territory of Colombes was detached and became the commune of Bois-Colombes ....
, where she lived with a woman named Marie Dufour for the remainder of her life. The two appear to have shared ownership of their house. In her eighties, she continued to refer to herself as an artist, as recorded in a census from that time. Meurent died on March 17, 1927. After the death of Dufour, in 1930, the contents of the house were liquidated; in the late 20th century, elderly neighbours recalled the last contents of the house, including a violin and its case, being burnt on a bonfire.
A painting by Meurent, Le Jour des Rameaux or Palm Sunday was recovered in 2004 and now hangs in the Colombes History Museum.
Meurent in fiction
The Irish writer George MooreGeorge Moore (novelist)
George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s...
included Meurent as a character in his semi-fictional autobiography, Memoirs of My Dead Life. She appears as a middle-aged woman past her prime, living in a lesbian relationship with a famous courtesan.
More recently, Victorine Meurent's life has inspired two historical novels, Mademoiselle Victorine by Debra Finerman and A Woman With No Clothes On
A Woman With No Clothes On
A Woman With No Clothes On is V R Main's debut novel. Set in 19th century Paris, Main tells the story of 18-year-old Victorine Meurent, the painter Edouard Manet and their shared longing for the ultimate painting...
by V R Main. She also appears as a character in a film called Manet in Love.
Pronunciation and etymology
Her name is pronounced as two syllables. Eunice Lipton points out that the name is much more commonly spelled Meurant or Meurend in France. In French, the noun endings in -ent are always pronounced [ɑ̃]. Meurent is only a different spelling of the two others (differents spelling for a name is very common in the 19th century in France).It is a derivative name from Morand, which itself comes from Latin's name Maurandus based on the Latin noun Maurus which mean Moor.
There is no relation with the third person plural of "to die" meurent (i.e. "they die") even if it's the same spelling. It is never pronounced like the verb.
Further reading
- Eunice Lipton. Alias Olympia. ISBN 0-8014-8609-2.
- V R Main. A Woman With No Clothes On. London: Delancey Press, 2008 ISBN 9-7809-5391-1974.
- A Biography of Victorine-Louise Meurent and Her Role in the Art of Edouard Manet. (Volumes I and II) by Seibert, Margaret Mary Armbrust ProQuest UMI #8625285.
- Olympia: Paris in the age of Manet by Otto Friedrich.