{"id":1475,"date":"2026-05-24T14:24:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/eugene-manet-on-the-isle-of-wight-the-painters-portrait-of-her-husband\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:43:19","slug":"eugene-manet-on-the-isle-of-wight-the-painters-portrait-of-her-husband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horscadre.paris\/en\/eugene-manet-on-the-isle-of-wight-the-painters-portrait-of-her-husband\/","title":{"rendered":"Eug\u00e8ne Manet on the Isle of Wight \u2014 the painter’s portrait of her husband"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, March 1875.<\/strong> Three months after her wedding to Eug\u00e8ne Manet<\/strong>, which took place in Paris on December 22, 1874, Berthe Morisot<\/strong> continued the honeymoon<\/strong> she had begun in France with her new husband. The couple settled into the sitting room of the Globe Cottage hotel<\/strong> in Cowes, a small port town on the Isle of Wight. Berthe had brought her painting supplies with her. She was thirty-four years old. She had been married for ninety-seven days. <\/p>\n\n

It was in this room in an English hotel, facing a window that looked out onto the harbor, that she painted the first portrait<\/strong> she dedicated to her husband. Eug\u00e8ne stands in profile<\/strong>, slightly bent over, leaning on the sill of a window draped in muslin. He is looking out\u2014at a garden, two elegant women in white passing by, and boats lined up at the harbor dock. Berthe paints him from inside the room, from behind<\/strong>, half-hidden by sheer curtains and drapes. <\/p>\n\n

This small painting<\/strong> \u2014measuring just 38 \u00d7 46 centimeters\u2014 silently subverts<\/strong> the conventional conventions of 19th-century Western painting. \u00c9douard Manet, Eug\u00e8ne\u2019s brother and Berthe\u2019s brother-in-law, had painted eleven portraits of Berthe between 1868 and 1874<\/strong>. She had been the subject, the model, the one sitting for the painting. A few weeks after her wedding, Berthe reversed the roles<\/strong>. She was the one painting. Eug\u00e8ne was the model. And he wasn\u2019t even really posing: he was looking out the window, distractedly, without posing, without even being aware\u2014according to biographical sources\u2014that he was being painted. <\/p>\n\n

This article explores the context of this pivotal work from the Morisot series\u2014the March 1875 honeymoon in Cowes\u2014 the painting\u2019s unique composition, the exceptional role of Eug\u00e8ne Manet in his wife\u2019s work (he is the only man<\/strong> Berthe painted with such intensity throughout her entire career), and the painting\u2019s journey through the art world<\/strong> \u2014it remained in the family for over a century before joining the collections of the Marmottan Monet Museum in 1993.<\/p>\n\n

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December 22, 1874\u2014a wedding in the Manet family<\/h2>\n\n

On December 22, 1874<\/strong>, at the age of 33, Berthe Morisot married Eug\u00e8ne Manet<\/strong> at the Passy town hall<\/strong> and then atthe Notre-Dame-de-Gr\u00e2ce-de-Passy church<\/strong> in Paris\u2019s 16th arrondissement. It was a simple ceremony attended by family members. \u00c9douard Manet<\/strong> served as a witness at the wedding. <\/p>\n\n

Eug\u00e8ne Manet (1833\u20131892) was \u00c9douard\u2019s younger brother<\/strong>. Born on November 21, 1833, he was the second son of Judge Auguste Manet<\/strong> and Marie-Eug\u00e9nie D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Fournier<\/strong>. He was two years older than Berthe. He, too, studied law. He, too, painted, but without the passion or talent of his older brother. In 1889, he published a novel titled *Victimes*<\/em> \u2014a testament to a life devoted more to writing, republican political thought, and supporting his wife\u2019s career<\/strong> than to his own artistic practice. <\/p>\n\n

The wedding marked the end of a difficult<\/strong> period in Berthe\u2019s life. A few months earlier, in January 1874<\/strong>, her father, Edme-Tiburce Morisot<\/strong>, had died at the age of 67. Berthe had spent the year in semi-mourning, yet in April 1874 she had accepted the momentous decision to participate in the first Impressionist exhibition<\/strong> at Nadar\u2019s gallery\u2014against the advice of \u00c9douard Manet and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. <\/p>\n\n

According to the official description from the Marmottan Monet Museum, \u201cBoth from bourgeois backgrounds, Berthe and her husband were free from financial worries, which allowed them to devote themselves fully to their passion for the arts.\u201d<\/em> It was a union of class<\/strong> as much as of love, but it would prove to be profoundly unusual<\/strong> in nature. <\/p>\n\n

Eug\u00e8ne gave the couple his full support for Berthe\u2019s artistic career<\/strong>. He did not hold her back in any way\u2014on the contrary, heactively encouraged<\/strong> her to continue painting after their marriage. Berthe continued to exhibit under her maiden name<\/strong> , \u201cBerthe Morisot<\/em>, \u201d<\/em> rather than \u201cMadame Manet,\u201d<\/em> as social conventions would have dictated. This decision, supported by Eug\u00e8ne, was in itself an act ofprofessional self-assertion<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

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March 1875 \u2014 the honeymoon in Cowes<\/h2>\n\n

The couple left for their honeymoon<\/strong> in early 1875<\/strong>. Their destination: England. More specifically, southern England<\/strong> \u2014first London, thenthe Isle of Wight<\/strong>, an elegant seaside resort off the southern coast of England in the county of Hampshire. <\/p>\n\n

In the 19th century, the Isle of Wight was a popular destination for the English and continental bourgeoisie<\/strong> \u2014 Queen Victoria had maintained her summer residence there<\/strong>, Osborne House<\/strong>, since 1845. Cowes, the main town in the north of the island, was home to one of Europe\u2019s most prestigious yacht clubs<\/strong> (the Royal Yacht Squadron, founded in 1815). It was an elegant and peaceful<\/strong> resort, ideal for both seaside strolls and plein air painting. <\/p>\n\n

Berthe and Eug\u00e8ne checked into the Globe Cottage Hotel<\/strong> in Cowes, a hotel overlooking the harbor. Berthe wasted no time. She had brought her painting supplies\u2014an easel, canvases, palettes, tubes of oil paint, and brushes. During the few weeks<\/strong> of their stay in Cowes (the exact duration is not precisely documented, but it is measured in weeks, not months), Berthe painted several works<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n