Mme Pontillon

French

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A young woman with pale peach skin and light brown hair sits in profile facing our left in an upholstered chair in this vertical painting. The chair and woman take up most of the composition so seems close to us. She wears a long-sleeved white dress that sweeps to the floor, with black ribbons around her neck and atop her shoulder-length ringlets. The dress has small ruffles at her throat and a deep flounce at the bottom. She gazes down at the partially open fan she holds on her lap. The fan is touched with spots of pumpkin orange, plum purple, and royal blue on a beige background. Loose, swirling brushstrokes in golden tan and bright white against an ivory background suggest that the chair is upholstered with a floral-patterned fabric. A wooden desk or table is pushed against the wall behind the woman to our right and to our left, a white door, covered by a white curtain, opens onto a balcony with a wrought iron railing. Across the street, a couple of people lean out of open windows covered by turquoise-blue awnings on a cream-colored building.
Berthe Morisot, The Artist's Sister at a Window, 1869, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.47

The Artist's Sister at a Window

Berthe Morisot · 1869 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.47

An older woman wearing a long black dress sits reading a book in front of a younger woman wearing cream white, who sits on a couch just beyond, in this vertical portrait painting. The scene is loosely painted with some visible brushstrokes, especially in the furniture, clothing, and room. Both women have pale skin and wear dresses with long sleeves and skirts. To our right, the older woman sits in a chair with a curved back, which runs parallel to the right edge of the canvas. The full skirt of her black dress angles down across the picture, almost spanning the bottom edge of the composition. Her gray hair is pulled back and covered by a black cloth or veil, which falls to her shoulder and blends with her dress. The collar is lined with a white ruffle, and white lace cuffs encircle her wrists. Her face is painted with rosy tones. She looks down at her book with dark eyes, and her rose-pink lips are closed. She wears a gold ring with a light stone on her left ring finger, and the book she holds has a moss-green cover. Her skirt overlaps the younger woman sitting nearby on the couch, which runs along the back wall of the room. The young woman’s knees are angled to our left but she looks slightly back to our right, to gaze down and into the distance with brown eyes. Her skin is paler, but she has lightly flushed cheeks and her petal-pink lips are also closed. An azure-blue bow is tied in her chestnut-brown hair. A few tendrils fall down her back and over one shoulder. Her dress falls loosely over her torso and legs. She wears a gold ring on her left hand and a gold bracelet on that wrist. She fingers a piece of lapis-blue fabric in one hand. The couch behind her has a pattern with stylized flowers or leaves floating within rose-pink ribbons that hang in swags, against a white background. Pillows patterned with ruby red, sky blue, and fawn brown peek out from behind the young woman. A round or oval wooden table with curving legs to our left holds a glass vase with a violet-purple flower, perhaps a hydrangea. A slip of paper or envelope sits on the table next to the vase. The wall behind the couch is fog gray, and the bottom edge of a gold frame hangs behind the young woman.
Berthe Morisot, The Mother and Sister of the Artist, 1869/1870, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.186

The Mother and Sister of the Artist

Berthe Morisot · 1869/1870 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.186