Victorine-Louise Meurent (also Meurant; February 18, 1844 – March 17, 1927) was a French

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

for painters. Although she is best known as the favorite model of

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

, she was an artist in her own right who regularly exhibited at the prestigious

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

. In 1876, her paintings were selected for inclusion at the Salon's juried exhibition, when Manet's work was not.

Biography

Victorine-Louise Meurent was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on Sunday, February 18, 1844, to a family of artisans. Her mother was a milliner and her father was a

patina Patina ( or ) is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of copper, brass, bronze, and similar metals and metal alloys ( tarnish produced by oxidation or other chemical processes), or certain stones and wooden furniture (sheen prod ...

tor of bronzes. In 1860, at the age of sixteen, Meurent began modeling in the studio of

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...

and she may have studied art at his atelier for women. Meurent first modeled for Manet in 1862, for his painting '' The Street Singer''. She was particularly noticeable for her petite stature that earned her the nickname ''La Crevette (The Shrimp)'', and for her red hair, which is depicted as very bright in Manet's

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

copy of ''Olympia''. Meurent played the violin and the guitar. She gave lessons in the two instruments. She also sang, reportedly performing at café-concerts, a type of musical establishment associated with the

Belle Époque The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...

in France, which initially were held outdoors. Meurent's name remains forever associated with Manet's

masterpiece A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

s of 1863, '' Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe'' (''The Luncheon on the Grass'') and '' Olympia'', which feature nude portrayals of her. At that time, she also modeled for

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

and the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens, both of whom were close friends of Manet's. Her relationship with Stevens is said to have been particularly close. Meurent was a professional

cancan The can-can (also spelled cancan as in the original French /kɑ̃kɑ̃/) is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Originally dance ...

dancer, and traveled to New York from Paris in September 1868 as part of a troupe of forty-eight artistes to perform in Jacques Offenbach operettas, including ''

Geneviève de Brabant ''Geneviève de Brabant'' () is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859. The plot is based on the medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant. For the 1867 version two additional characters, men-at-ar ...

'' at the French Theater on Fifth Avenue, in which she was considered “one of the most audacious can-can dancers of the troupe." Manet continued to use Meurent as a model until the early 1870s, when she began taking art classes. Because she was drawn to the more academic style of painting that Manet opposed, Meurent and Manet became estranged. The last Manet painting in which Meurent appears is ''

The Railway ''The Railway'', widely known as ''Gare Saint-Lazare'', is an 1873 painting by Édouard Manet. It is the last painting by Manet of his favourite model, the fellow painter Victorine Meurent, who was also the model for '' Olympia'' and the '' Lu ...

'' (1873). The painting is an example of Manet's use of contemporary subject matter. In 1875, Meurent began studying with the portraitist . The following year, Meurent first submitted work of her own to the Salon and it was accepted. Manet's own submissions were rejected by the jury that year. Meurent's entry at the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

in 1879, ''Bourgeoise de Nuremberg au XVIe siècle'', was hung in the same room as the entry by Manet. Work by Meurent was included in the 1885 and 1904 exhibitions as well. In all, Meurent exhibited in the Salon four times. She also continued to support herself by modeling through the 1880s for

Norbert Goeneutte Norbert Goeneutte (23 July 1854 – 9 October 1894) was a French painter, etcher and illustrator; notably for the novel by Émile Zola. Biography He was born in Paris into a family that had moved there from Saint-Omer 1850.etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s, and for

Toulouse-Lautrec ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...

. Meurent was inducted into the

Société des Artistes Français The Société des Artistes Français (, meaning "Society of French Artists") is the association of French painters and sculptors established in 1881. Its annual exhibition is called the "Salon des artistes français" (not to be confused with the ...

in 1903, with the support of Charles Hermann-Leon and

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

, the founder of the Société. By 1906, at the age of 62, Meurent had left Paris for the suburb of

Colombes Colombes () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 53rd largest city in France. ...

, which is a commune to the northwest of Paris. It is located 10.6 km (6.6 mi) from the center of the city. She lived there for the remainder of her life in a house that she owned jointly with Marie Dufour. Meurent continued to refer to herself as an artist into her seventies, as recorded in a census from 1921. At the age of 83, Meurent died on March 17, 1927. The contents of the house were liquidated after the death of Dufour in 1930. Reportedly, in the late twentieth century elderly neighbors from that commune in Colombes recalled the last contents of the house, including a violin and its case, being burnt on a bonfire.

Paintings by Meurent

Most of the paintings by Meurent have been lost, but some are in the possession of museums: File:Autoportrait-victorine-meurent.jpg, ''Self-portrait'' (1876), Boston Museum of Fine Arts File:Victorine Meurent - Scene orientaliste au fumeur de narguile.jpg, ''Orientalist scene with hookah smoker'', 1876 File:Le briquet victorine meurent 1404718.jpg, ''Le briquet'', Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes File:Le jour des rameaux.jpg, ''Le Jour Des Rameaux'' or
''Palm Sunday'', 1885, Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes File:Jup by Victorine Meurent.jpg, ''Jup'', Musée Municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes A painting by Meurent, ''Le Jour des Rameaux'' or ''Palm Sunday'', was recovered in 2004 and is in the Colombes History Museum in France. A self-portrait she painted in 1876 was acquired by the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the United States in September 2021, the first of her paintings in a museum collection outside France.

In fiction

Meurent's life inspired two historical novels and she appears as a character in several others. The Irish writer George Moore included Meurent as a character in his semi-fictional autobiography, ''Memoirs of My Dead Life'' (1906). Meurent appears in the book as a middle-aged woman, living in a lesbian relationship with a famous courtesan. Meurent is the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

in two novels. She appears as such in both ''Mademoiselle Victorine: a Novel'' (2007) by Debra Finerman and ''

A Woman With No Clothes On ''A Woman With No Clothes On'' (2008) is V. R. Main's debut novel. Set in 19th-century Paris, it is the story of 18-year-old Victorine Meurent, the painter Édouard Manet, Edouard Manet and their shared longing for the ultimate painting. The nove ...

'' (2008) by V R Main. She appears as a character in a novel by Christopher Moore that is titled ''Sacré Bleu'' (2012). Another novel that features her is ''Paris Red'' by Maureen Gibbon. It depicts Meurent and her relationship with Manet. It was published in 2015. The novel ''Victorine'' is about Meurent and her journey to become a painter. It was published by Drema Drudge in 2020. She is a recurring character in the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

nominated novelette “Colors of the Immortal Palette” by Caroline M. Yoachim. She appears as a forlorn character in the novel by R.w. Meek entitled ''The Dream Collector'', Book II “Sabrine & Vincent van Gogh” (2024). The main character of Ruth Reichl's 2024 novel ''The Paris Novel'' embarks on a search for Meurent's lost paintings in 1980's Paris. In film, Meurent is featured as a character in ''Intimate Lives: The Women of Manet''. The film also is known as ''Manet in Love'' (1998). Her character is played by Shelley Phillips.

In works by Édouard Manet

File:Straßensängerin (1862) - Edouard Manet (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).jpg, '' The Street Singer''
by Édouard Manet (1862)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

File:Edouard Manet 088.jpg, '' Portrait of Victorine Meurent''
by Édouard Manet (1862)

File:Edouard Manet 047.jpg, '' Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of an Espada''
by Édouard Manet (1862)

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

File:Edouard Manet - Luncheon on the Grass - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe''
by Édouard Manet (1862–1863)

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

File:Edouard Manet - Olympia - Google Art ProjectFXD.jpg, '' Olympia''
by Édouard Manet (1863)

File:Édouard Manet - Young Lady in 1866 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' A Young Lady in 1866''
by Édouard Manet (1866)

File:Édouard Manet, 'The Guitar Player'.jpg, ''The Guitar Player''
by Édouard Manet (c.1866)
Hill-Stead Museum File:Édouard Manet - The Croquet Game.jpg, '' The Croquet Game''
by Édouard Manet (1873)

Städel Museum The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt ...

File:Edouard Manet - Le Chemin de fer - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

''
by Édouard Manet (1873)

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In works by Alfred Stevens

File:The Parisian Sphinx by Alfred Stevens, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG, ''The Parisian Sphinx''
by Alfred Stevens (1870)

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine art museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed ...

References

External links

''The Naked Truth'', by V R MainSalon 1885, № 1755''Société des artistes français Salon 1904'', № 1264''Le Bulletin de la vie artistique'', 1921/05/15 (A2, N10), p.297
Gallica BnF
''La Vie parisienne : la ville et le théâtre : 1884 (à 1889) / par Parisis (Emile Blavet)'', p.122Gallica BnF ''Le Figaro (Paris. 1854)'', 1884/03/02 (Numéro 62), p.1
Gallica BnF
''L'Hôtel Drouot et la curiosité en 1883-1884'', p.173
Gallica BnF {{DEFAULTSORT:Meurent, Victorine 1844 births 1927 deaths Painters from Paris 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French women artists French artists' models Édouard Manet 19th-century French women painters