Manet came from an upper middle-class family. His father was a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Justice who left his sons a large inheritance. This meant that Manet didn’t have to worry about money like most artists but probably also led to a conflict between his desire to be accepted by the conservative Salon and his rebellion against the Establishment.
Manet showed his rebellious streak quite early. He chose the family’s piano teacher, Suzanne Leenhoff, as his mistress and lived with her for many years. She may also have had a relationship with his father. After a holiday together, the pair came back with a son, Leon. He was probably their child, but his parentage remains mysterious and neither of them acknowledged the boy as their son. Leenhoff oftencalled him her younger brother. The pair kept the child a secret from Manet’s father who would never have accepted an illegitimate child in the family. After Manet’s father died Manet married Leenhoff.
Manet only did five portraits of his wife. They include Reading and Madame Manet at the Piano. Most of Manet’s portraits of his wife are rather unflattering, showing her as stolid and severe. He became very angry when Degas painted a portrait of him and his wife, however. Manet cut off part of the painting because he didn’t like the way in which Degas had portrayed her!
Manet’s Favourite Model Victorine Meurent
Manet’s paintings,Le Dejeuner sur L'herbe , and Olympia, scandalized all of art-loving Paris in the years 1862 and 1863. The sight of a nude woman enjoying a picnic with two clothed men and the portrait of another nude woman who was obviously a prostitute were images that Paris found extremely shocking. They were considered sordid subjects when the judges of the Salon, the prestigious art establishment, favoured historical, mythological paintings or conservative landscapes.
Manet’s favorite model, Victorine Meurent, posed for both of the paintings. It was assumed by biographers for many years that this pretty, red-haired woman was a prostitute and an alcoholic who died young, but the truth was quite different. Meurent was really an accomplished artist who lived a long life.
Born in 1844, Meurent came from a working-class Parisian family. She studied painting at Thomas Couture’s studio where she may have met Manet. She posed for other artists as well as Manet, including Toulouse Lautrec. Her self-portrait was accepted by the Salon in 1876 when Manet’s were rejected. Her paintings were accepted by the Salon six times. Meurent was also an accomplished musician who sang and played the piano and the guitar. She died at 83.
Manet had many other muses, including the beautiful Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzales. Sadly, Manet died at only 51 of syphilis. It was assumed by some biographers that he may have caught this from Meurent, but as she lived a long life it is obvious that he did not.
Sources
Edouard Manet at Olga’s Gallery
Victorine Meurent, Manet’s Favorite Model
Lisa Sanderson - Lisa has been a freelance-writer for many years. She used to write for the topic, British Social History, for Suite 101 under the ...
