The pianist Suzanne Leenhoff, originally from the Netherlands, married Édouard Manet in 1863, becoming one of his favorite models. The couple met about a decade earlier when the young Dutchwoman moved to Paris to continue her musical education. She supported herself by teaching piano to young Parisians, including Eugène Manet, Édouard’s younger brother. In 1852, her illegitimate son Leon was born, and Édouard Manet became his godfather. After their marriage, numerous portraits of Suzanne Manet at the piano or in the park were created. Among the most famous is the portrait on the blue couch in 1874 and, four years later, the image of a woman in the conservatory.
In August 1878, the painter decided to change his studio on Rue de Saint-Pétersbourg for a workshop on the nearby Rue d’Amsterdam. It turned out that due to necessary renovations, the new space would only be ready in April of the following year. Fortunately for Manet, at the same time, the painter Johann-Georg Otto Rosen, who worked on the same street, was leaving for a few months and agreed to rent him his studio. This studio differed from typical workshops, usually equipped with only a few necessary pieces of furniture and props for arrangements. Utilizing the large glass space, Otto filled the room with greenhouse plants. Manet took advantage of the new studio’s possibilities, portraying the owners of the famous Parisian boutique, Mr. and Mrs. Guillemet, in this exotic environment. In the same setting, against the backdrop of white exotic flowers and palm leaves, the painter immortalized his wife. In the large portrait, Manet achieved interesting effects using the warm light filtered through the greenhouse windows.
The painting was in the possession of the artist’s family and, since 1912, in the Gerstenberg collection in Berlin. After 1923, it became part of Max Silberberg’s collection. In the 1950s, it was in the collection of Hugh Bomford in the United Kingdom. Currently, it is owned by a private collector.
Painting Information:
oil on canvas, dimensions: 80 x 100 cm, currently in a private collection.
Literature: An Exhibition of Paintings of the French School from a Private Collection, London 1944, nr 23.