Méry Laurent Wearing a Small Toque

1882

Manet’s portrait of the actress and singer Méry Laurent captures a sense of her sparkling personality. Rather than having her pose in the traditional way, the artist presents her as if she stopped by for a chat, dressed in street clothes and a small, brimless hat. By 1880, as his health deteriorated, Manet had begun to make increasing use of pastels, which were somewhat easier to work with than oil paint. This freely drawn portrait records the sitter’s features and suggests the friendship she and the artist shared.

Medium	pastel on canvas
Dimensions	21 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. (55.3 x 34.6 cm) Frame: 29 1/8 x 21 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (74 x 54.6 x 7 cm)
Object Number	1955.565
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

Édouard Manet, Méry Laurent Wearing a Small Toque, 1882, pastel on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.565

Select Bibliography

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1963. Feeney, Maura. A La Mode: Women's Fashions in French Art, 1850-1900. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982. Théodore Duret, tr. by J. E. C. Flitch.. Manet and the French Impressionists, 2nd ed.. London: G. Richard.. 1912.. Duret, Théodore. Histoire de Edouard Manet et de son Oeuvre: avec un catalogue des peintures et des pastels. 4th ed. Paris: Bernheim-Jeune, 1926. Blanche, Jacques-Emile. Propos de Peintre. 3 vols. Paris: Editions Emile-Paul Frères. 19218. Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet, Histoire Catalographique. Paris: Editions Montaigne, 1931. Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. L'art français. Paris: Les Beaux Arts.. 1932. Rewald, John. Edouard Manet, Pastels. Oxford: B. Cassirer, 1947. Tabarant, A[dolphe]. Manet et ses Oeuvres. Paris: Gallimard. 1947. Raoul-Duval, Josette. "Méry Laurent." L'Oeil (May 1961): 33-38. Orienti, Sandra. L'Opera Pittorica di Edouard Manet. Milan: Rizzoli, 1970. Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Edouard Manet. Classics of World Art. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolsen, 1970. Orienti, Sandra. Tout l'oeuvre peint d'Edouard Manet. Les Classiques de l'art. Introduction by Denis Rouart. Translated by Alain Veinstein. Paris: Flammarion, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Monnier, Geneviève. Pastels from the 16th to the 20th Century. Geneva: Skira, 1984. Daix, Pierre. La vie de peintre d'Edouard Manet. Paris: Fayard, 1983. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet: Catalogue Raisonné. Lausanne & Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1975. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

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Provenance

The artist, probably sold to Blanche; Jacques-E´mile Blanche, Paris (until at least 1912); [Georges Bernheim, Paris, before 1931]; [Joseph (Jos) Hessel, Paris, by 1932]; S.A.P.O.R., sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, 17 May 1934;¹ [Durand-Ruel, New York, sold to Clark, 17 May 1934, as Buste de femme, Mary Laurent]; Robert Sterling Clark (1934–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. According to their records, Durand-Ruel bought this work from S.A.P.O.R. for $14,450.00, but the seller cannot be identified further. See correspondence in the Clark’s curatorial file with Caroline Godfroy of 24 Apr. and 3 May 2001.