Victorine Meurent facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Victorine-Louise Meurent
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Victorine-Louise Meurent, c. 1865
from an album of photographic portraits belonging to Édouard Manet |
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| Born | February 18, 1844 |
| Died | March 17, 1927 (aged 83) |
| Education | Étienne Leroy (1828–1876) |
| Known for | Painter, model |
Victorine-Louise Meurent (born February 18, 1844 – died March 17, 1927) was a talented French artist. She was both a painter and a model for other artists. Many people know her best as the favorite model of the famous painter Édouard Manet. But Victorine was also a successful artist herself! She often showed her own paintings at the important Paris Salon art show. In fact, in 1876, her paintings were chosen for the Salon, but Manet's were not.
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Victorine Meurent's Early Life
Victorine-Louise Meurent was born in Paris, France, on February 18, 1844. Her family were skilled craftspeople. Her mother made hats (a milliner), and her father added a special finish to bronze objects (a patinator).
When Victorine was 16, in 1860, she started working as a model in the art studio of Thomas Couture. She might have also studied art there, as he had a special workshop for women artists.
Working with Édouard Manet
Victorine first modeled for Édouard Manet in 1862. This was for his painting The Street Singer. She was quite small, which earned her the nickname La Crevette (The Shrimp). She also had bright red hair, which you can see in Manet's watercolor copy of his painting Olympia.
Victorine was also a musician. She played both the violin and the guitar and even gave lessons. She also sang, sometimes performing at café-concerts. These were popular outdoor music places during the Belle Époque in France, a time of great cultural growth.
Victorine Meurent is famous for appearing in Manet's most well-known paintings from 1863. These include Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass) and Olympia. Around this time, she also modeled for other artists like Edgar Degas and the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens. Both were good friends with Manet. People say she was especially close with Alfred Stevens.
Victorine was also a professional cancan dancer. In September 1868, she traveled from Paris to New York. She was part of a group of 48 performers. They put on operettas by Jacques Offenbach, like Geneviève de Brabant. In this show, she was known as "one of the most daring can-can dancers."
Manet continued to use Victorine as a model until the early 1870s. Around this time, she started taking art classes herself. Victorine was interested in a more traditional style of painting. Manet, however, preferred a newer, more modern style. Because of these differences, they grew apart. The last painting by Manet that shows Victorine is The Railway (1873). This painting shows Manet's interest in everyday life.
Victorine's Art Career
In 1875, Victorine began studying art with Étienne Leroy, a painter known for his portraits. The very next year, Victorine sent her own artwork to the Paris Salon for the first time, and it was accepted! Interestingly, Manet's paintings were rejected by the judges that year.
In 1879, Victorine's painting, Bourgeoise de Nuremberg au XVIe siècle, was shown at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. It was even hung in the same room as a painting by Manet. Victorine's work was also shown in the Salon exhibitions in 1885 and 1904. In total, she exhibited her art at the Salon four times. She also kept working as a model through the 1880s to earn money. She modeled for artists like Norbert Goeneutte, who was known for his etchings, and for Toulouse-Lautrec.
In 1903, Victorine Meurent became a member of the Société des Artistes Français. This was an important group for French artists. She was supported by Charles Hermann-Leon and Tony Robert-Fleury, who helped start the group.
By 1906, when Victorine was 62, she moved from Paris to a nearby town called Colombes. This town is about 10.6 kilometers (6.6 miles) northwest of Paris. She lived there for the rest of her life in a house she owned with a friend, Marie Dufour. Even in 1921, when she was in her seventies, a census record shows she still called herself an artist.
Victorine Meurent passed away on March 17, 1927, at the age of 83. After Marie Dufour died in 1930, the things in their house were sold. People who lived nearby in Colombes later remembered seeing the last items from the house, including a violin and its case, being burned in a bonfire.
Paintings by Meurent
Most of Victorine Meurent's paintings have been lost over time. However, some are now in museums:
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Self-portrait (1876), Boston Museum of Fine Arts
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Orientalist scene with hookah smoker, 1876
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Le briquet, Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes
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Le Jour Des Rameaux or
Palm Sunday, 1885, Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes -
Jup, Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes
One of her paintings, Le Jour des Rameaux (or Palm Sunday), was found in 2004. It is now in the Colombes History Museum in France. In September 2021, a self-portrait she painted in 1876 was bought by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the United States. This was the first of her paintings to be in a museum collection outside of France.
In Works by Édouard Manet
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The Street Singer
by Édouard Manet (1862)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston -
Portrait of Victorine Meurent
by Édouard Manet (1862)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston -
Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of an Espada
by Édouard Manet (1862)
Metropolitan Museum of Art -
A Young Lady in 1866
by Édouard Manet (1866)
Metropolitan Museum of Art -
The Guitar Player
by Édouard Manet (c.1866)
Hill-Stead Museum -
The Croquet Game
by Édouard Manet (1873)
Städel Museum -
The Railway
by Édouard Manet (1873)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
_-_Edouard_Manet_(Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston).jpg)
In Works by Alfred Stevens
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The Parisian Sphinx
by Alfred Stevens (1870)
San Diego Museum of Art
Images for kids
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Photographic portrait of
Victorine-Louise Meurent, c. 1862
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See also
In Spanish: Victorine Meurent para niños
