At the time it was first exhibited, Edouard Manet’s “Le Dejeuner sur L’herbe” (Picnic On The Grass) created an all mighty scandal. In 1863 it was considered completely immoral for a naked woman to be seen with fully dressed men. Of course there had been naked women depicted in art before, but they were demure river goddesses, nymphs or suchlike. But Manet’s nude was a contemporary woman staring directly at the viewer in a nonchalant, couldn’t care less manner.

Manet, ‘Le Dejeuner Sur L’herbe’, 1863 (Wikipedia)

So if it was audacious of Manet to produce such a provocative painting (in 1863 it was illegal for men and women to be seen bathing together), what about the woman who posed for him? Her name was Victorine Meurant and there is some conjecture about how they met. Manet was a very secretive guy, to the extent that almost no one knew he was married until after the event.

Meurant was born in a working class area of Paris in 1844 and being a model in those days was not a respected occupation. People would draw parallels being modelling and prostitution and the general consensus was that she was a sex worker and alcoholic who was probably dead by the age of 50. Instead, she made it to 83 and became a successful artist.

It’s been suggested that Manet met Victorine at the Palais de Justice where Manet’s father, Auguste was a very senior and highly respected judge presiding over domestic affairs, patrimony suits and affairs of illegitimacy. Victorine was a part time model and street singer, the likes of whom were regularly brought before the courts for having (supposedly) led men astray. So it’s entirely possible that Manet junior met her whilst she was appearing before Manet senior.

Victorine was thought to have been gay. There is no evidence that she ever married and Manet once wrote about seeing her at a party with her arms around another woman. He painted her obsessively for a decade, which included another provocative work, “Olympia.”

Meurant, Self Portrait, 1876 (Art Herstory)

After sitting for Manet, Victorine went to art school at the Academie Julian. She regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon, quite an achievement for someone poor and female. Her self portrait made it into the 1876 Salon, the same year that Manet’s work was rejected. Little else is known of Victorine Meurant and images of her paintings are rare, but she is hardly the only woman to have made the transition from model to artist. One only has to think of Suzanne Valadon for a start.

Meurant, ‘Palm Sunday’, c1880 (Art Herstory)

So what was the inspiration behind Manet’s provocative paintings? In 1863, the year “Le Dejeuner sur L’herbe” was painted, Manet senior, the respected judge, died of syphilis. So perhaps his paintings of that period were a reference to the pompous hypocrisy and double standards that was rife in Parisian society. But then, Edouard died of the same disease in 1883 aged just 51.

References;

Drema Drudge - Victorine Meurant More Than Just a Model

Waldemar Januszczak - The Art Mysteries

Victorine Meurant from model to artist

The Much Traveled Painting