Julie Manet et son lévrier Laërte

Julie Manet was Berthe Morisot's only child, and by 1893, when this was painted, the girl of 14 had just lost her father the year before. Morisot painted her constantly, so that Julie grows up across dozens of canvases, and here she sits with the family greyhound, Laertes, in a quiet indoor calm. Morisot handled the whole thing with the loose, open brushwork the Impressionists were known for, letting the dark dress and the dog's pale coat carry the picture. She had shown alongside Monet and Renoir from the very first Impressionist exhibition, one of the few women in that circle. This is among the last portraits she made of her daughter. Morisot died of pneumonia in the spring of 1895, and Julie, not yet 17, went to live with the family of her cousins.