Lady in fur

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Lady in Fur
Édouard Manet , around 1880
55.8 × 45.8 cm
pastel on canvas
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere , Vienna

Lady in fur , also Madame Guillemet , The Unknown or Lady Portrait , ( French L'inconnue ), is a pastel portrait drawn on canvas by Édouard Manet around 1880 . The 55.8 cm high and 45.8 cm wide portrait shows against a floral background a young woman wrapped in a coat with a fur collar, whose identity has not been clarified. It is one of a series of pastel paintings that Manet made in the Impressionist style a few years before his death . The portrait has been in the possession of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna since 1942 .

Image description

In the picture Lady in Fur Manet shows a young woman as a breast piece . While the upper body is turned a little to the right edge of the picture, the face points frontally towards the viewer. Under the narrow, arched eyebrows, the eyes are wide open and look forward. The dark hair on the head is combed back and pinned up so that the forehead and her visible right ear remain uncovered. “Fine, delicate, breathy skin tones” characterize the face of the portrayed. A little blush is applied to her cheeks and her closed lips are made up red. The facial expression appears alert and confident.

The sitter is wearing a black coat with a brown fur collar, which is possibly held together by the left hand indicated at the lower edge of the picture. The coat, which is wide open at the front, reveals the bare skin in the area of ​​the shoulder and décolleté, with a particularly strong contrast at the transition from light skin to fibrous dark fur. Under the coat, the body is only covered with a little white fabric - this could be a shirt, blouse or dress. This relatively revealing clothing gives the picture an intimate character. The slim neck, like the ears, is devoid of any jewelry. On the right side of her neck and on the edge of the right half of her face, shadow areas are visible that indicate a light source beyond the right edge of the picture.

The indeterminate spatial situation in the background could be plants in a greenhouse. The surface looks like wallpaper with the almost abstract shapes of the green leaves, the small dark branches and the blue-white flowers on both sides of the head of the person portrayed. At the right edge of the picture, a little below the center of the picture, a horizontal, broad green stripe appears, through which the plant parts of the background are visible. The signature “Manet” can be read on this surface, which could be a shadowy sign of the upper edge of a bench. On the occasion of an exhibition in the Albertina in Vienna in 2012 , the picture Lady in Pelz was described as Manet's “symbol of his reference to feminine beauty, sensuality and fashionable elegance”.

The unknown - the identity of those portrayed

The designations that exist for this picture in different languages ​​refer in part to the unclear identity of those portrayed. The French title L'inconnue can be found in German-language literature as The Unknown . There is also the English name for this portrait The unknown Lady . Some authors suspect that the sitter could be Jeanne Guillemet, as the first owner of the picture is known as "Guillemet, Paris". Madame Guillemet and her husband Jules ran a fashion shop in Paris on the elegant Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and was one of the artist's friends. She was known for her beauty and elegant clothes, and the lady in fur is described in the same way as a "sophisticated appearance". Manet had portrayed the couple Guillemet in the painting Im Wintergarten ( Nationalgalerie , Berlin) in 1879 and Jeanne Guillemet can also be seen in the two pastel paintings Madame Guillemet ( Saint Louis Art Museum ) and Pariserin ( Ordrupgaard Museum , Charlottenlund) from 1880 . It is noticeable that Madame Guillemet wears high-necked clothing both in the pastel pictures and in the double portrait with her husband, which seems appropriate for a married woman of her social class. The revealing portrayal in the portrait of a lady in fur speaks more against Madame Guillemet as a model, especially since the friendly relationship between her and Manet was characterized by relatively formal manners, as received letters indicate.

  • Édouard Manet:
    In the Winter Garden , 1879

  • Édouard Manet:
    Parisian , 1880

  • Édouard Manet:
    Madame Guillemet , 1880

Another indication of Madame Guillemet as a model for the portrait of a lady in fur is the background of plants, which - in a much more elaborate manner - can be found in the double portrait of the Guillemets in the painting Im Wintergarten . As a model for the lady in fur , other women besides Madame Guillemet can also be considered. In several of Manet's works from 1879 onwards, there is a background of tall, dense plants. At that time, the painter had a real winter garden available as a backdrop, in which he invited various models to the meeting. In addition to the Guillemets, he portrayed his wife Suzanne ( National Gallery , Oslo) in this winter garden and the actress Jeanne Demarsy poses in front of such a backdrop of plants in the painting On the Bank ( Pola Museum of Art , Hakone). Since Madame Manet had a completely different physiognomy than the lady in the fur , she is out of the question as the portrayed in this portrait. Jeanne Demarsy also has little resemblance to the person portrayed in the picture Lady in Fur .

  • Édouard Manet:
    Madame Manet in the winter garden , 1879

  • Édouard Manet:
    On the bench , 1879

Another clue to identify the lady in fur could be her clothing. Among Manet's late portraits in particular, there are several portraits of women wearing an article of clothing with fur collars. Manet shows a collar similar to the one in the picture Lady in fur , for example, in the woman with fur depicted in profile (private collection). Both pictures are executed as pastels and were taken at short intervals. The identity of the woman with fur portrayed in the picture is also unclear, outward similarities to the woman in fur are certainly present. In addition, several portraits of women from around 1880 contain depictions with a large cleavage. In the portrait of Mademoiselle Isabelle Lemonnier (private collection) Manet shows a good friend in a ball gown, where, as in Lady in Fur , the bare skin of the shoulder and cleavage can be seen. In the bust-like portrait of Madame Jacob ( Musée d'Orsay , Paris) Manet renounced all clothing. Above all, Madame Jacob's facial features are very similar to those depicted in the picture Lady in Fur . All these and other unnamed women could have sat as models for the picture Lady in Furs - however, a clear identification is not possible by comparing them with other works by Manet.

  • Édouard Manet:
    Woman with Fur , around 1879

  • Édouard Manet:
    Portrait of Mademoiselle Isabelle Lemonnier , around 1879

  • Édouard Manet:
    Madame Jacob , 1880

Provenance

In Manet's catalog raisonné by Rouart / Wildenstein, the first owner of the picture is noted as “Guillemet, Paris”. This could be the Guillemet couple mentioned above, but the painter Antoine Guillemet , who is a friend of Manet , could theoretically be considered the owner, but is not associated with the picture in Manet literature. The entrepreneur and art collector Auguste Pellerin is known as the next owner . The margarine manufacturer owned an extensive collection of Manet's works, which entered the art market in 1910. A consortium of the galleries Bernheim-Jeune , Durand-Ruel and Paul Cassirer acquired the collection and put them, including the lady in fur , including in the Munich art dealer Modern Gallery of Heinrich Thannhauser out.

Then the picture came into the collection of the Berlin banker Robert von Mendelssohn , who in addition to Baroque paintings also owned several works of French Impressionism. After his death in 1917, the art collection became the property of his family. The widow Giulietta von Mendelssohn-Gordigiani, a native Italian, lived mostly in her home country, while the couple's two children, the actress Eleonora von Mendelssohn and the cellist and theater director Francesco von Mendelssohn , initially lived in the Mendelssohns ' Berlin villa, which also houses the Painting collection. In 1935 Eleonora von Mendelssohn, now an Austrian citizen by marriage, had the majority of the art collection brought to Schloss Kammer in Upper Austria as moving goods . Eleonora and her brother Francesco von Mendelssohn emigrated to the United States in the same year, where they took a number of works of art with them, which they sold in the following years to earn a living.

Manet's Lady in Fur and other pictures from the Mendelssohn Collection remained in Europe. Giulietta von Mendelssohn-Gordigiani, who was considered an Aryan according to German law , had her asset manager Aldo Cima negotiate the sale of works of art in 1942 . Finally, some works of French impressionism from the Mendelssohn collection came to the Austrian Gallery in Vienna via the art dealer Otto Schatzker . The museum director Bruno Grimschitz was instrumental in this and tried to close gaps in the collection with the acquisitions. An amount of 40,000 Reichsmarks was agreed for Manet's Lady in Furs . After the Second World War, Giulietta von Mendelssohn-Gordigiani tried in vain to obtain the restitution of the paintings in Vienna. She asserted a sale due to persecution, which she was unable to prove and enforce. The lady in the fur was the first and to this day is the only portrait of Manet in an Austrian museum.

literature

  • Bärbel Holaus, Elisabeth Hülmbauer, Claudia Wöhrer: Art of the 19th century. Inventory catalog of the Austrian Gallery of the 19th Century . Vol. 3 L – R, Austrian Gallery Belvedere and Brandstetter, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85447-765-1 .
  • Edouard Manet: Letters . German translation by Hans Graber, Benno Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1933.
  • Galerie Matthiesen (ed.): Edouard Manet . Matthiesen Gallery. Berlin 1928.
  • Melissa Müller , Monika Tatzkow : Lost pictures, lost lives, Jewish collectors and what became of their works of art . Sandmann, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-938045-30-5 .
  • Fritz Novotny (Ed.): New acquisitions by the Austrian Gallery in Vienna . Schroll, Vienna 1942.
  • Austrian Gallery (Hrsg.): French art in the Austrian Gallery in Vienna, collection catalog of the gallery of the 19th century . Galerie Welz, Salzburg 1991, ISBN 3-85349-156-1 .
  • Sandra Orienti: Edouard Manet . Catalog raisonné, vol. 2, Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-548-36051-3 .
  • John Rewald : Edouard Manet, Pastels . Bruno Cassirer, Oxford 1947.
  • Denis Rouart, Daniel Wildenstein : Edouard Manet: Catalog raisonné . Bibliothèque des Arts, Paris and Lausanne 1975.
  • Klaus Albrecht Schröder : Impressionism: pastels, watercolors, drawings . Exhibition catalog Milwaukee and Vienna, Dumont, Cologne 2012, ISBN 3-8321-9440-1 .
  • Maryanne Stevens: Manet, portraying life . Exhibition catalog, Royal Academy of Arts, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-905711-74-1 .
  • Adolphe Tabarant : Manet, histoire catalographique . Ed. Montaigne, Paris 1931.
  • Mikael Wivel : Manet . Exhibition catalog Ordrupgaardsamlingen Charlottenlund, Copenhagen 1989, ISBN 87-88692-04-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The picture is referred to as a lady in fur in the Austrian gallery (ed.): French art in the Austrian gallery in Vienna, collection catalog of the gallery of the 19th century , p. 94. In addition, there is the name Madame Guillemet (The Unknown) in Sandra Orienti: Edouard Manet . Catalog raisonné, vol. 2, p. 68. In the Manet exhibition in Berlin in 1928 the portrait was known as the portrait of a woman , see catalog Galerie Matthiesen (ed.): Edouard Manet , p. 62. The French title is taken from the catalog raisonné by Denis Rouart, Daniel Wildenstein: Edouard Manet, Catalog raisonné , Vol. 2, p. 16, No. 39.
  2. ^ A b John Rewald: Edouard Manet, Pastels , p. 59.
  3. ↑ Size information from the Austrian gallery (publisher): French art in the Austrian gallery in Vienna, collection catalog of the 19th century gallery , p. 94. Deviating from this, there are dimensions 55 × 46 cm in Bärbel Holaus, Elisabeth Hülmbauer, Claudia Wöhrer : 19th century art. Inventory catalog of the Austrian Gallery of the 19th Century . Vol. 3 L-R, p. 57.
  4. ↑ Heimo Kuchling: New acquisitions of the 19th century gallery, Vienna in Die Weltkunst from May 30, 1943.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Austrian Gallery (ed.): French art in the Austrian Gallery in Vienna, collection catalog of the 19th century gallery , p. 94.
  6. ↑ Klaus Albrecht Schröder: Impressionism: pastels, watercolors, drawings, p. 173.
  7. ↑ Sandra Orienti: Edouard Manet . Catalog raisonné, vol. 2, 68.
  8. ↑ a b Denis Rouart, Daniel Wildenstein: Edouard Manet: Catalog raisonné , Vol. 2, p. 16, No. 39.
  9. ↑ For the picture Madame Guillemet see Maryanne Stevens: Manet, portraying life, p. 192. For the picture Pariserin see Mikael Wivel: Manet , p. 138.
  10. ↑ For example, in a letter to Madame Guillemet, Manet wrote relatively formal lines: “Dear Madam, ... I am getting better and better, and a letter from you from time to time would help my recovery. So don't be thrifty with it. ... “Letter from Bellevue in July 1880. Quoted from Edouard Manet: Letters . German translation by Hans Graber, p. 95.
  11. ↑ Robert von Mendelssohn is not mentioned as the owner in either the Rouart / Wildenstein catalog raisonné or the inventory catalog of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. Instead, the son Francesco von Mendelssohn, born in 1901, is named as the owner. See Denis Rouart, Daniel Wildenstein: Edouard Manet: Catalog raisonné , Vol. 2, p. 16, No. 39 and Bärbel Holaus, Elisabeth Hülmbauer, Claudia Wöhrer: Art of the 19th century. Inventory catalog of the Austrian Gallery of the 19th Century . Vol. 3 L – R, p. 57. The purchase by Robert von Mendelssohn, however, can be found in Melissa Müller, Monika Tatzkow: Lost Pictures, Lost Lives, Jewish Collectors and What Became of Their Works of Art , p. 74.
  12. ↑ Melissa Müller, Monika Tatzkow: Lost pictures, lost lives, Jewish collectors and what became of their works of art , p. 76.
  13. ↑ Other works from the Mendelssohn collection in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere are Baumlandschaft (Morning) and Baumlandschaft (Evening) by Camille Corot , Harlequin and Columbine by Edgar Degas and the painting Path in Monet's Garden in Giverny by Claude Monet .
  14. ↑ On the acquisition of the pictures in 1942 see Fritz Novotny (Ed.): Neuerwerbungen der Österreichische Galerie in Wien . In the foreword, Director Bruno Grimschitz thanks the Reich Governor Baldur von Schirach for the financial contributions . The picture lady in fur is referred to there on p. 6 as a lady portrait .
  15. ↑ Melissa Müller, Monika Tatzkow: Lost pictures, lost lives, Jewish collectors and what became of their works of art , p. 79.
  16. ↑ Giulietta von Mendelssohn-Gordgiani stated: “Since my husband was a Jewish voter, the Nazis, although my husband had died, regarded our property as Jewish property and tried to get hold of our paintings in particular ... and to do so Prices that only represented a small fraction of the real value of the pictures. Under threats that they would have other means at their disposal if I was not ready, I was forced to agree to this sale ... I would never have sold the paintings at such prices if I had not, through the threats made against me, in the In connection with persecution by National Socialism, would have been forced to do so. ”Quote in Melissa Müller, Monika Tatzkow: Lost pictures, lost lives, Jewish collectors and what became of their works of art , p. 82.