Berthe MorisotFrench, 1841–1895Young Saint John
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The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
In the spring of 1890 Berthe Morisot and her husband, Eugène Manet, rented a house with a garden overlooking the Seine River in the rural French town of Mézy. Morisot worked in the attic studio while the pair was there. A young boy from the village served as the model for this pastel, one of several studies for a full-length painting of Saint John the Baptist with his cross. In this drawing, Morisot developed the loose and sketchy marks that would characterize her final canvas.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1975.83
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
Meanwhile, in the life of Berthe Morisot
The whole life1887–1895
Squaring and tracing paper: the synthesis of her last years
Morisot starts to use squaring and tracing paper to transcribe her drawings exactly onto the canvas, which lets her build compositions with more complicated interaction between figures. Her late works are distinctive for their synthesis of the Impressionist touch with broad strokes and light reflections and the graphic approach of clear lines.
1888–1889
From short strokes to long, sinuous ones
In 1888–89 Morisot's brushstrokes change from short, rapid ones to long, sinuous ones that define form; the outer edges of her paintings are often left unfinished, so that the canvas shows through and increases the sense of spontaneity.
1890
“No man has ever treated a woman as an equal”
In 1890 Morisot writes in a notebook about her struggle to be taken seriously as an artist: she does not think there has ever been a man who treated a woman as an equal, and that is all she would have asked for, since she knows she is worth as much as they are.
1892
The first solo exhibition
In 1892, after almost two decades of showing in group exhibitions, Morisot's first solo exhibition is held.
1892
Her husband Eugène Manet dies
In 1892 Morisot's husband, the painter Eugène Manet (1833–1892), dies.
