Portrait of Berthe Morisot (1872–74)
Original title: Portrait of Berthe Morisot
kurzbeschreibung
Between 1872 and 1874, Édouard Manet made an etching that shows the painter Berthe Morisot facing forward. This impression comes from the second and final state of the plate and was printed on blue laid paper. The plate measures 11.9 x 7.9 cm.
Description
Berthe Morisot wears her hair up and looks straight ahead. Her face is seen from the front; she has on a jacket with a collar and a shirt underneath. The background stays bare and pushes the figure forward. The image is monochrome, built from hatching and lines.
Context
Manet portrayed Berthe Morisot, a key Impressionist painter, several times in the 1870s. This etching falls in a period of close artistic ties between the two. For the print on blue paper, Manet reworked the plate; the present impression reflects the second and final state. The sheet belongs to a group of prints Manet made at the time.
Impact
Fine lines and hatching give the sheet an elegant yet intimate feel. The sitter's direct gaze creates an immediate presence that draws the viewer in. The monochrome rendering on blue paper lends the impression a calm, distinguished tone.
Technique
For this etching, the drawing was incised into a metal plate and bitten with acid. The sheet was printed on blue laid paper, which gives it a distinctive color. The second and final state shows the plate after Manet's revisions in its definitive form.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)