Emilie-Louise Delabigne (1848–1910), Called Valtesse de la Bigne

Manet painted this portrait in 1879. The sitter is Emilie-Louise Delabigne, a Parisian courtesan known as Valtesse de la Bigne. She was a prominent figure in Parisian society and a model for the character Valerie Marneffe in Balzac's Cousin Bette. The portrait is vertical, roughly 47 by 30 inches. The sitter is shown half-length, turned slightly to the left, her face in three-quarter view. She wears a dark dress with a high collar and a small white ruffle at the neck. Her hair is dark, pulled back from her face. The background is dark brown, almost black, with no detail. The face is the brightest area of the canvas, painted in pale tones with visible brushwork. The overall palette is dark, with the face and the white ruffle as the only light passages. Manet was forty-seven in 1879. He had been painting portraits of Parisian women throughout the decade, including several of the actress Emilie Ambre and of his wife Suzanne. He was increasingly ill with the symptoms of locomotor ataxia, a condition that would kill him in 1883, but his output remained high. This portrait was painted in his studio in the rue de Saint-Petersbourg. Manet's portraiture in the late 1870s combined the dark palette of his early work with the looser brushwork he had developed through his contact with the Impressionists. He never exhibited with the Impressionist group, but his brushwork in this period shows their influence. The dark background and focused lighting in this portrait recall the Spanish painters he admired, especially Velazquez. Oil on canvas, 119.4 by 75.6 centimeters. Manet used broad, confident strokes for the dress and background, and finer, more varied marks for the face. The paint is thin in the dark areas and thicker in the face, where the brushwork is visible. The dark palette and vertical format of this portrait make it suitable for a formal space: a dining room, a study, or an entryway. It pairs with dark walls, gold frames, or wood paneling. The 18x24 framed version in a black frame is the most versatile choice. The painting entered the Met's collection through the Havemeyer bequest in 1929. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.