Berthe Morisot - The Reclining Shepherdess 1891
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The Reclining Shepherdess 1891
57x86cm oil/canvas
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
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From Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza:
In the spring and summer of 1890 -and again in 1891- Berthe Morisot, with her husband Eugène Manet and her daughter Julie, rented a house called «La maison Blotière» at Mézy-sur-Seine, near Meulan, some fifty kilometres west of Paris. The house had an orchard and a terrace that overlooked the Seine. Morisot painted a few landscapes showing this view. The unspoilt rustic quality of the setting tempted her to try new subject-matter. In particular, she worked extensively on what became her largest and most ambitious composition, two young girls (one of them Julie) picking cherries (Cherry Tree, 1891, Neuilly-sur-Seine, estate of Mr and Mrs Denis Rouart). But she also made several drawings and three different painted versions of a composition showing a young shepherdess reclining in the grass with a goat by her side. A young girl of the village named Gabrièlle Dufous willingly acted as model for the shepherdess (as well as for other works).