Madame Michel-Lévy

1882

Edouard Manet

Artist, French, 1832 - 1883

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a tightly corseted dress looks off to our left in this vertical pastel drawing. The portrait is loosely sketched with blended areas, giving it a soft look. The woman’s body is angled to our left, and her hands touch in front of her lower belly. She looks off with large, wide set, slightly bulging green eyes under dark brows. She has a round face, full pink lips, and the suggestion of a dimple in her chin. Her dark brown hair is pulled up under a gold band, and bangs curl across her forehead. A short, delicate ringlet curls up the nape of her neck. She wears a light-colored, round earring in the ear we see and a string of pearls, which may hold a round jewel that rests in the hollow of her throat. Her dress is powder blue down the front and coffee bean brown to either side and on the sleeves. The edges of the brown sections are lined with flowers drawn loosely in shades of pastel pink, blue, yellow, and green. The low, curving neckline is edged with white ruffles, and the waist is cinched to an almost startling degree. The sleeves come down just past her elbow, and the cuffs are also lined with white ruffles. Long, tan-colored gloves stretch back to the cuffs. The background is fog gray. The artist signed and dated the pastel faintly in the lower left corner, “Manet 1882.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pastel on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 74.2 x 51 cm (29 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.)
    framed: 98.4 x 74.3 cm (38 3/4 x 29 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.161

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned by the sitter, Mme. Lucie Michel-Lévy, Paris; sold 1913 to (Paul Rosenberg & Co., London and New York); sold 1913 to Dr. Gottlieb Friedrich Reber [1880-1959], Lausanne, still in 1919. [1] (Galerie Barbazanges, Paris) in 1926. [2] (Galerie Étienne Bignou, Paris); sold 5 April 1927 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] Letter from Paul Rosenberg to Chester Dale, dated 11 February 1943. Still with Reber per Théodore Duret, Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919, no. 7.
[2] Lent by the Galerie Barbazanges to an 1926 exhibition in Prague. Bignou frequently worked with both Barbazanges (then owned by Hodebert) and Alex. Reid and Lefevre, who exhibited the painting in Glasgow in 1927.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1884

  • Exposition Manet, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1884, no. 124.

1926

  • Stá Vystava spolku Vytvarnych Umelcu Mánes, Obecni Dum, Prague, 1926, no. 20, repro.

1927

  • A Century of French Painting, exhibition organized by Alex Reid & Lefevre and held at McLellan Galleries, Glasgow, 1927, no. 21, repro.

1928

  • A Century of French Painting, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1928, no.16, repro.

1931

  • Portraits of Women Loan Exhibition: Romanticism to Surrealism, Museum of French Art, New York, 1931, no. 10

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2019

  • The Touch of Color: Pastels at the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2019 - 2020, unnumbered catalogue.

Bibliography

1902

  • Duret, Théodore. Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre.Paris, 1902:no. 7.

1910

  • Hancke, Erich. "Manet als Porträtmaler." Kunst und Künstler (February 1910): 241, repro.

1919

  • Duret, Théodore. Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919: no. 7.

1926

  • Moreau-Nélaton, Etienne. Manet, raconté par lui-même. 2 vols. Paris, 1926: II: 98-99, repro. fig. 319.

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 23, repro., frontispiece.

  • Siple, Ella S. "Retrospective Exhibitions of French Painting in the New York Galleries." The Burlington Magazine 54 (January 1929):49.

1930

  • Pemberton, Murdock. "On the Buying and Hanging of Pictures." Home & Field 40 (September 1940): 26, repro.

1931

  • McBride, Henry. "Portraits of Women Shown in Catholic Loan Exhibition." The New York Sun (24 January 1931): 10, repro.

  • Bertram, Anthony. Edouard Manet in The World's Masters. London and New York, 1931:repro. plate XVIII.

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931: no. 77.

  • McBride, Henry. "The Chester Dale Collection at New York." Formes 14 (April 1931): 57-58, repro.

1932

  • Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:183, no. 533; 2:fig. 229.

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 33, repro.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 33, repro.

1947

  • Rewald, John. Edouard Manet Pastels. Oxford, 1947: repro. 16.

  • Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et ses oeuvres. Paris, 1947: 448, no. 532.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 43, repro.

1958

  • Richardson, John. Edouard Manet: paintings and drawings. London, 1958: no. 82, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 324, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 82.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 71, repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 72, repro.

1970

  • Orienti, Sandra and Denis Rouart. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1970: no. 393A, repro. plate LXIV.

  • Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970: no. 387, repro. plate LXIV.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 210, repro.

  • Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:II:no. 7, repro.

1978

  • Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:II: 48.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 453, no. 657, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 244, repro.

1986

  • Adler, Kathleen. Manet. Oxford, 1986: 209, repro.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 246, 247, color repro.

  • Wadley, Nicholas. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawing. London, 1991: 96-97, repro.

1994

  • Lemaire, Gerard-Georges. Manet. Milan, 1994: 88, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Manet / 1882

Wikidata ID

Q20189507

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