Berthe Morisot

Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Motlzau Collection
Mrs. Nathan Goldstein (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 8, 1995, lot 42)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Exposition d'oeuvres de Berthe Morisot, 1929, no. 77

Marie-Louise Bataille & Georges Wildenstein, Berthe Morisot: Catalogue des peintures, pastels et aquarelles, Paris, 1961, no. 310, illustrated fig. 309
Alain Clairet, Delphine Montalant & Yves Rouaurt, Berthe Morisot: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Montolivet, 1997, no. 314, illustrated p. 267

The canvas has been strip-lined. Extremely faint cracking is visible to the pigment at top center above the figure's hat. Under UV light: certain pigments fluoresce, and some small areas of inpainting run along the left and bottom edges of the composition, the most noticeable of which are a quarter inch in diameter. Meanwhile a half-inch by half-inch square of inpainting is visible in the area between the figure's hat and the top edge of the composition. Finally a vertical 1.5 inch brustrokeas well as a nailhead-sized spot of inpainting are visible toward the upper right quadrant. The work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Like those of fellow female Impressionist Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot's chosen subjects were frequently women and children shown in simple poses or engaged in familiar daily activities. Although the society into which she was born did not freely recognize women as professional artists, her work was executed with a deftness that placed her as a colleague of Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley, with whom she frequently exhibited. Her paintings represent a synthesis of the feminine subject and the bold technique of the Impressionist movement. Paul Mantz has described her work as having "all the frankness of an improvisation; it does truly give the idea of an 'impression' registered by a sincere eye and rendered again by a hand completely without trickery" (Kathleen Adler & Tamar Garb, Berthe Morisot, Ithaca, 1987, p. 72).

This portrait represents Jeanne Fourmanoir, a professional model, seated in the living room of the house built by Morisot and her husband on the Rue de Villejust, Paris. Morisot often depicted her daughter, Julie, in her work and first asked Jeanne to pose for her at a time when Julie was ill. Jeanne became the subject of many other paintings by Morisot and also modeled for Renoir. On the wall behind the sitter, Morisot has included a Japanese woodblock print that overtly references the influence of Far Eastern cultures on the Impressionists at the end of the nineteenth century.