Eva Gonzalès

Manet took only one formal pupil in his life, and this is her: Eva Gonzalès, a young painter who came to his studio in 1869. He shows her at her easel in an elegant white gown, brush in hand, working on a framed flower picture. Manet was a slow, doubting worker, and he reportedly scraped the head down and repainted it over and over across many months, finishing only in early 1870. It went to the Salon that spring. Within months the Franco-Prussian War broke out and Paris was besieged, and Manet stayed on to serve in the National Guard. Down on the floor lies a half-rolled print signed by Manet himself, a quiet reminder of who was the teacher here.