I had intended my next post to deal with the election, but news has come to me that takes precedence. This is as close as I will ever get to immortality, so you will forgive the interruption.
Many of you will be familiar with the famous nineteenth century French painter Edouard Manet. One of Manet's best known models, herself a noted painter, was Victourine Meurent.
It seems that for some part of her life, Meurent lived in the very building in which I am now writing these words, Number 17 rue Maitre Albert!
Whether she lived in my apartment, I do not know. It would appear that there is a 20% chance, since the building has five floors, each one of which is an apartment [save for mine, on the ground floor, which is only half as large as the upper apartments, but never mind.]
How's them apples!
Maybe you've already investigated this, but was the building divided into apartments in the 19th century and if so, was the smaller first floor apartment set aside for the concierge and his family?
ReplyDeleteNot just any old model, but the model Manet used for his two most iconic paintings, Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe, and Olympia. According to some historians, Manet, early in his career, may have met Meurent outside your building on the street; this link also shows her work. (https://americangirlsartclubinparis.wordpress.com/tag/victorine-meurent/) Indeed, she was an accomplished painter. She is often described quite unkindly (a drunk, depraved, a prostitue). Nice summary here (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/03/women.manet).
ReplyDeleteWe have got to get Paris to put up a plaque on the building!!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps a woman's art group or model union would have an interest in rightly honoring an accomplished (but ignored) female painter and surely one of the most important Parisian models ever - wrongly vilified. Have you searched Amazon? There are several books about her, most seem to be fictionalized.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is that she seems to have lived there in 1862-1863 (she would have been 18-19) when Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe was painted, rejected by the Salon, and then gained enormous notoriety in the protest exhibition Salon des Refusés. A plaque for sure!
And this: "...it is known that she had a musical aptitude being able to play various instruments, such as the guitar and violin."
Various instruments such as....viola? in your apartment? https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/victorine-meurent/
You've got to find out where in the building she lived.
I agree completely that this needs to be pursued, but my grasp of French is not up to dealing with the French bureaucracy. I need to do some research and then figure out how to move on it.
ReplyDeleteYou might write a letter to a major French newspaper (Le Monde?) explaining the situation. If your French isn't up to writing a letter, I'm sure that some readers of this blog can help you. Google translator can do a rough job and a reader or a French friend can do the detailed translating work.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that this needs to be pursued.
ReplyDelete