The woman who looks out at us with those intense dark eyes is Berthe Morisot, one of the few female impressionists, and a painter of such distinction that she is actually remembered as such. The rich skin tones of her face stand out from a surround of black clothing. The lips are bow-shaped and held as though she is appropriately suppressing a smile. The eyes are so very intense, warm, and focused that one wonders what effect they had on the artist who was painting the portrait. For that artist must certainly have been much in the mind of this, his subject, as her large eyes gazed warmly in his direction. A sweet, sad tenderness is at the heart of this painting, represented subtly by the bouquet of violets almost hidden in the center of Morisot’s black cape.
Edouard Manet painted 17 portraits of Berthe Morisot, making her his favorite muse. Other models, Victorine Meurent, who modeled nude for Olympia but who also became a painter, and Eva Gonzalès, who was Manet’s one student and whose praises he sang to Morisot, were in paintings showing action or representing different characters. The portrait of Gonzalès, for example, shows her at the easel, palette and brush in hand, as she dashes off a painting. Meurent modeled not as herself, but as characters in some of Manet’s most controversial paintings (Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass). The difference is that the paintings of Morisot were only about Morisot.
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) came from a bourgeois family where the young women of the family were expected to be educated in the arts. In fact, of the four children, it was she and her sister Edma who trained with Camille Corot, the famous French landscape artist. While Edma’s career ended with her marriage and motherhood, Berthe’s career continued. Morisot’s beauty was often commented upon. She was known to have such gracious
manners that she made others feel self-conscious. As she was from a well-off family, being restrained and respectable was the hallmark of a young woman of her position, as being a gentleman was for Edouard Manet.
This is Edouard Manet (1832-1883) as he was in 1867 (portrait by Fantin-LaTour). He was very much the stylish bourgeois man about town, conservative in many ways but outlandish for his time in terms of his paintings. This last trait caused him to be the source of unwanted controversy but also to be the artist most respected by the likes of the young Impressionists like Monet. Thus Manet became the leader of the avant-garde painters of his day. He was like this in 1868 when he met Morisot as she sketched in the Louvre.
Ah, two artists meeting in the Louvre in the city of love and romance, Paris, would seem to fulfill all the necessary qualities for a Hollywood film. Au contraire! Manet was married, but under rather odd circumstances, involving most probably the cover-up of an illegitimate child – not his own. The Manet family had hired a Dutch-born music teacher, Suzanne Leenhoff, who after a while in the employ of the Manet family produced a “little brother” named Leon. While some art historians claim this was a son of Edouard Manet, most have decided that it was his father’s child and thus Edourd’s half-brother. Long-story short, Manet married Suzanne to hush the scandal. Using the invented last name of Koelia, Leon Leenhoff Koelia over the years seems to have been taken as their son, though the couple never produced any other children.
Meanwhile, another curiosity in this relationship between Manet and Morisot is that their families moved in the same social circles which corresponded with one another through letters, invitations, and greetings of various kinds, but there are no letters between Morisot and Manet, not even invitations to come model in his studio, despite that she sat for 17 portraits. Is this lack of evidence, actually evidence of something much deeper?
Morisot did write to her sister, Edma, who painted this portrait of Berthe in 1865, about her frustrations and sadness over the barriers between her and Manet. Morisot’s mother, whether to help shake her out of it or pour vinegar in the wound, pointed out to her daughter that Manet had taken up with Eva Gonzalès who was so much more “accomplished” than Berthe. (Thanks, Mom.) Berthe did indicate a jealous satisfaction to her sister when Manet expressed his frustrations working with the strong-willed Gonzalès. So some of her feelings for Manet were known.
In this piece by Manet, Morisot poses coyly holding a fan over her face, once again dressed in black. By the way, Manet was much in love with Spanish painting where figures were customarily dressed in traditional Spanish black. Morisot increases the mystery by wearing pink slippers. Having one leg crossed over the other allows for one of these dainty pink items to project out. Like a geisha enfolded in layers of kimono, offering a view of a little patch of skin at the nape of the neck as an enticement, Morisot dangles before the painter this tiny shoe with an ornamental flower on its toe.
Here Morisot rests in a languid pose, gazing off into the distance, one beautiful long-fingered hand resting on a red-violet cushioned sofa. Her gaze seems distant and distracted, though the painting above her of a stormy sea may hold some indication of what may have been going on between them. Near her right arm is what looks like a clump of violets, the flower that wanders like a musical refrain through these portraits. The portraits came to an end in 1874 when Morisot married Edouard Manet’s brother, Eugène. Her mother objected, as Eugène seemed not to have a profession. However, the marriage worked well, with Eugène promoting his wife’s art. The couple had a daughter, Julie, which was the light of her mother’s life.
However, back to the relationship, such as it was, or whatever it was, and the lack of letters. There is some dispute over how much access Berthe and Edouard had to one another. Yes, there were 17 portraits and the sittings that went with making them. As Jeffrey Myers purports in “Morisot & Manet”(newcriterion.com), with all the time they spent together in his studio, even with societal prohibitions, something must have boiled over. However, other historians point out that Mme. Morisot, Berthe’s mother, was always with her when she went to visit Manet. I tend to believe the latter as Manet suffered from syphillis, though Morisot never manifested that, hence perhaps no intimate contact. On the other hand, some indicate that Manet and Morisot mutually burned their love letters before her marriage to Eugène. As dramatic and oscar-winning as that might have been, I suggest that given the social constraints of the time, as well as Manet’s marriage and Morisot’s mother, there may never have been such letters. Communications could have easily happened in person at the many weekly gatherings that included both families.
Finally there is Morisot’s beautiful daughter, Julie, whose parents were both dead by the time she reached her late teens. The curmudgeonly family friend, Edgar Degas, noting this situation, took it upon himself to find for Julie and a close cousin of hers a handsome pair of young
men from good families, both with promising careers as military officers. He had them introduced. Et voilà! Nature took its course, and there wound up being a double-marriage ceremony. Julie went on to have a happy marriage and ultimately a son. It was the son, Berthe’s grandson, who years after her death, edited the letters of his grandmother. Perhaps it was his hand that destroyed, as inappropriate to his grandmother’s memory, any record of a passion between Manet and Morisot. And so ends what is known and what is assumed about this relationship that seemed so fraught with passion, whether equally felt or not, and filled with disappointment on many fronts. Love, but no letters, and some wonderful paintings. But wait, there is one last thing.
There is a letter here, though perhaps it is only a symbol of what could never be.
Paintings used in this article are in Public Domain.
Articles used for this post are as follows:
“Berthe Morisot” theartstory.org
Berthe Morisot, Woman Impressionist, a book of essays. Published by Rizzoli/Electra, 2019.
“Escaping Social Distancing: Morisot and Manet – An Affair to Remember”by Joan Hart artseverydayliving.com
“Manet and Morisot: A Tale of Love and Sadness in Portraits” ArtVentures art-ventartventures.blogspot.com
“Morisot & Manet” by Jeffrey Meyers newcriterion.com
For more on Marjorie Vernelle, see the author page at amazon.com/author/marjorievernelle or go to the Art Blog at vernellestudio.com
Veuve Clicquot: The Widow and Her Champagne.
Since this is Women’s History Month, one must take a look at the life of and the product/company created by Madame Clicquot, known from her 27th birthday as The Widow Clicquot (Veuve Clicquot). Born in the late 1700s in the Champagne region of France, the times were indeed perilous. Born into an affluent family of textile merchants, she married the boy at the estate next door, François Clicquot, son of another wealthy textile merchant, but one who had taken to dabbling with making wine, including one named for the region, Champagne.
As was mentioned the times were perilous since the French Revolution (1789) and the following Reign of Terror meant that many of the wealthy lost everything, including their heads. The Ponsardin and Clicquot families managed to be shrewd enough politically and at enough of a distance from the capital, Paris, to escape that fate. However, in 1798, Mme. Clicquot’s enthusiastic young husband, who eschewed the textile business for winemaking, died suddenly, leaving his 27-year-old widow behind. What to do? Barbe-Nicole’s family had a tradition of wine making which had been instrumental in the young couple’s joint interest in making and selling wines. Well, with land and good crops, you’ve got a business, and that is just what the Widow focused on, the building of a wine business based upon the making of a stellar champagne, which bore the name used to reference her, Veuve Clicquot.
However, it wasn’t easy. One can tell by the portrait above that the Widow Clicquot was a shrewd and tough businsess woman who could make hard but also creative decisions. With her husband’s death, her father-in-law wanted to close the fledgeling and failing wine business; however, Barbe-Nicole presented him with another proposal, which he accepted as long as she would undergo winemaking training. She did and stuck with the idea of making champagne. In 1811 during Napoleon’s campaign in Russia, she made a Hail Mary decision to supply her champagne to the Russians who loved the drink. She got it through to that Russian clientele by letting the French soldiers who were blockading traffic into Russia but who also loved champagne have some.
Those soldiers had no corkscrews, so they used their sabers to knock off the caps of the bottles, creating that dramatic tradition that is often seen in film, known as sabrage. For instruction in this and a very amusing video, look at Champage Saber Time youtube.com. I suggest that you do this when out on field maneuvers or while camping, but don’t try it at home unless you want a broken window.
The Widow had great success with both Napoleon’s soldiers and the Russians. The Czar only drank Veuve Clicquot and that magical vintage is known as the Legendary Vintage of 1811. The Widow’s inventiveness did not stop there. In 1818, she reimagined rosé champagne by combining Chardonnay with Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes. She also invented the process of riddling or the turning of the bottles of champagne on racks where the bottles were placed at 45 degree angles. This way during the second fermentation, the dead yeast could easily be loosed up from the botton and taken off the top of the bottle rather than pouring the champagne from one bottle to another. Those riddling racks also proved to be a great way to ship the champagne, which expanded her business to the Scandinavian countries and to America.
The Widow Clicquot is credited with making champagne available to people far beyond Europe and in the 20th century the Clicquot empire expanded to its present-day income of 1.3 billion dollars in sales per year. It is now a valuable and highly valued part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesey (LVMH) empire of luxury goods. For more of Mme Clicquot’s exploits see Natasha Geiling’s article “The Woman Who Created the Champagne Industry” smithsonianmag.com.
To get the most out of this marvelous champagne, it must be served in the right way and in the right glass. Flutes that close in at the top or as seen here large red wine glasses that again are narrow at the top work well to keep in those valuable bubbles. The long stems are for holding the glass, rather than putting one’s fingers around the bowl which serves to warm the wine which is best served chilled. The best temperature for serving it is between 8-10°C (47-50°F). However, do not store the bottles in the refrigerator as too much refrigeration spoils the taste, so keep in in wine cellar conditions.
As for food pairings, Veuve Clicquot goes extremely well with oysters, white fish, white meat, and with Gouda cheese. As for specific food combinations, no better advice is offered than that at veuveclicquot.com. It boils down to Pairing or Balance. In Pairing, the goal is to match like with like. They give the example of Vintage Rose 2000 with a lamb tajine (spicy with spicy). For Balance, it is a matter of contrasts that balance out one another. Their exmple is acidic/sweet or acidic/fatty, as in Vintage Reserve 1996 and creamy chicken. Their website also offers recipes.
However, you choose to enjoy this most celebrated of champagnes, just remember that it was a woman’s ingenuity that created it and made it thrive. Vive Veuve Clicquot!
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©marjorie vernelle 2022
COMING SOON: Masters of the Flowers and Napa Valley Vineyards in Spring.
Spring and flowers go together, and who doesn’t think of Claude Monet when beautiful flower paintings come to mind? But wait, there is also Edourd Manet, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, and even Gustave Courbet! It is time to take a look at the art of flowers and the masters who painted them. And while we are at it, we can take a trip to the Napa Valley for an off-season treat of wine activities.
