Édouard Manet

Mme du Paty, Paris
Auguste Pellerin, Paris
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired by 1910)
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired by 1911)
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York
Joseph Flanagan, Boston (and sold: American Art Association, New York, January 14, 1920, lot 64)
Mrs. Payne Whitney, New York
Private Collection, New York (by descent from the above in 1944 and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 10, 1999, lot 18)
A. Alfred Taubman, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the estate of the above by the present owner

Paris, La Vie Moderne, Oeuvres nouvelles d'Édouard Manet, 1880, no. 12
Paris, École des Beaux-Arts, Exposition posthume Manet, 1884, no. 129
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Les Manets de la Collection Pellerin, 1910, no. 25
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, The John Hay Whitney Collection, 1983, no. 14

Gustave Goetschy, "Édouard Manet" in La Vie Moderne, April 17, 1880, pp. 247-50
Paul Alexis, "Manet" in La Revue Moderne et Naturaliste, 1880, pp. 289-95
Joris Karl Huysmans, L'Art Moderne, Paris, 1883, p. 157
Théodore Duret, Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1902, no. 16
Emil Waldmann, "Édouard Manet in der Sammlung Pellerin" in Kunst und Kunstler, vol. 8, May 1910, pp. 387-98, illustrated n.p. 
Théodore Duret, Édouard Manet, Sein Leben und Seine Kunst, Berlin, 1910, no. 16, illustrated p. 207
Étienne Moreau-Nélaton, Manet raconté par lui-même, vol. II, Paris, 1926, fig. 270, illustrated p. 68
Paul Jamot, Georges Wildenstein & Marie-Louise Bataille, Manet, Paris, 1932, no. 445, fig. 220, illustrated p. 120
Adolphe Tabarant, Manet et ses oeuvres, Paris, 1947, no. 478, illustrated p. 368
Denis Rouart & Sandra Orienti, Tout l'oeuvre peint d'Édouard Manet, Paris, 1970, no. 291
Denis Rouart & Daniel Wildenstein, Édouard Manet: Catalogue Raisonné, pastels, aquarelles et dessins, vol. II, Paris, 1975, no. 34, illustrated p. 15

Executed on primed canvas. The canvas is not lined and remains on its original stretcher. There is some shrinkage with associated tiny spots of pigment loss to the dark gray pigment of the woman's dress and the pale pink pigments of her chest and around the edge of her face and hair. Some tiny fly spots below the figure's chin and to her upper left arm. Some very minor old frame abrasion to the extreme perimeter of the canvas, otherwise fine. This work is in very good overall 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.

Between 1878 and 1883 Manet executed nearly sixty pastel portraits of fashionable Parisian women. Many of the sitters were friends, some were actresses and others were models. Most were fascinating and beautiful, and several—for example, the actress Méry Laurent—were known to be involved with such figures as Stéphane Mallarmé and perhaps Manet himself. The present work depicts Madame du Paty, who was the wife of the genre and history painter Léon du Paty. According to Adolphe Tabarant, she was close to the Manet family (Adolphe Tabarant, op. cit., p. 368). Moreau-Nélaton reports that she was "une mondaine à qui l'on prête quelques aventures" (Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, op. cit., p. 68).

This charming work was first in the collection of Madame du Paty herself, who lent it to the posthumous exhibition of Manet's work held in Paris in 1884. Subsequently it was acquired by the distinguished collector Auguste Pellerin whose superb collection of works by Manet was the subject of an exhibition at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris in 1910.