National Gallery acquires its first painting by Eva Gonzalès
On the occasion of the artist’s 177th birthday, the National Gallery has acquired La Psyché (The Full-length Mirror), about 1869‒70, by Eva Gonzalès (1849‒1883) thanks to three generous legacy gifts from Mrs Martha Doris Bailey, Miss Gillian Cleaver, and Ms Sheila Mary Holmes, and the National Gallery Trust. This is the first acquisition by the Gallery of a work by Gonzalès and the second acquisition of its Bicentenary year. 'La Psyché' has not been seen in public for over seventy years and joins only one other painting by her in a UK public collection, 'The Donkey Ride', about 1880‒2, at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
Gonzalès is the 20th female artist represented in the National Gallery Collection, marking a significant addition. The story of Gonzalès’s reputation, during and after her life, reflects some of the reasons why women artists are not well represented in the National Gallery. These include being offered fewer opportunities in life and the lack of interest shown, consciously or not, in works by women artists by collectors of the era and onwards, from whose acquisitions the National Gallery’s own collection was assembled.
During her lifetime Gonzalès was an established artist who exhibited multiple times to acclaim at the official Paris Salon. She was the only official pupil of Edouard Manet (1832‒1883), with whom she studied from 1869. Gonzalès likely painted 'La Psyché' around the same time that Manet was painting his portrait of her, Eva Gonzalès (1870, the National Gallery). That work, in the Gallery collection, was the focal point of the recent exhibition, Discover Manet & Eva Gonzalès. Manet presented her in the unlikely painting outfit of a white gown, touching up an already framed floral still life, as much an allegory of painting as a practising artist. The acquisition of 'La Psyché' will continue the work started in that exhibition, providing a counterbalance to Manet’s presentation of Gonzalès as somewhere between a serious painter and society beauty, by showing her skills as a talented and lauded painter in her own right.
Interest in Eva Gonzalès has been growing in recent years. In 1990 a catalogue raisonné was published and her works have been included in exhibitions on women Impressionists in Frankfurt and San Francisco in 2008, in addition to the National Gallery’s own 'Discover Manet & Eva Gonzalès'.
'La Psyché' depicts a simple room containing a sofa, a picture on the wall and a full-length mirror, called 'une psyché' in French. A young woman looks at herself in the mirror, grasping a small red flower - the sole spot of bright colour in this subdued painting. Her dress is starkly rendered and her face is delicately modelled in shades of grey brown matching the print on the wall. This subtle monochrome is reminiscent of Manet’s early work but appears to be unique in Gonzalès’s own. The model is Gonzalès’s younger sister Jeanne, who regularly posed for Gonzalès. The restricted domestic scene and reliance on family members as subjects demonstrate the difficulties facing female painters at the time in comparison with their male colleagues.
Christopher Riopelle, The Neil Westreich Curator of Post 1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, says: ‘Remarkably, this important rediscovery by an artist who captures increasing international attention has been in a private British collection, unseen in public for more than seventy years. We are excited that it has come to the National Gallery. The world of Impressionist studies, and of women artists studies is, if anything, even more excited.’
Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery, says: ‘Joining Manet’s portrait of Eva Gonzalès, this work by the artist herself helps to enrich the story the Gallery tells about 19th-century French painting. Eva died young and her works are rare. We are grateful to the legacy-givers who have enabled us to buy it.’
Notes to editors
Image
Eva Gonzalès
'La Psyché (The Full-length Mirror)'
about 1869-70;
Image © The National Gallery, London
About Eva Gonzalès
Eva Gonzalès (1847–1883) was the daughter of Emmanuel Gonzalès (1815–1887), writer and dramatist, and Marie Céline Raguet (1823–1880), musician and singer. Her parents held soirées attended by prominent writers and artists. While initially taught at home, from early 1866 she studied in the women-only studio run by Charles Chaplin (1825–1891), an artist known for his portrayals of women painted in an 18th-century style. Unusually, she would have been able to study from the life model at a special class held early in the morning. In February 1869 Alfred Stevens(1823–1906) introduced her to Edouard Manet, who accepted her as his only formal pupil. In the summer of that year, he embarked on his monumental portrait of her seated at her easel, Eva Gonzalès, which he exhibited at the Salon of 1870. Gonzalès made her debut at this Salon with three works, including The Bugler (1869–70, Musée de Gajac, Villeneuve-sur-Lot). Like Manet, Gonzalès continued to exhibit at the Salon, including her masterpiece, A Theatre Box at the Italiens (about 1874, Musée d’Orsay) which, rejected in 1874, was exhibited to great acclaim in 1879. Lessons with Manet were interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune (1870–1) but throughout the 1870s Manet made regular Sunday visits to Gonzalès’s studio in her parents’ house, during which their relationship developed from teacher and pupil into a dialogue on a more equal footing. Both Manet and Gonzalès died within a few weeks of each other, Gonzalès from an embolism following the birth of her son in spring 1883.
By the time of her premature death Gonzalès had established herself as an artist who excelled in her portrayals of quiet bourgeois life, often featuring her younger sister Jeanne, also an artist. Much of her work treated subjects similar to those of the Impressionists but focussed in particular on the cloistered life led by middle-class women at this period, from visits to the milliner to walking in the park. With their own limited opportunities, the life and work of women artists at this period mirrored the lives of those they portrayed. Gonzalès handled such subjects with graceful and flowing brushwork and a great sensitivity of colour. She excelled in particular in the use of pastel, a technique she learned during her time with Chaplin, and her use of which almost certainly influenced that of Manet.
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Painting Information
NG6702
Eva Gonzalès
'La Psyché (The Full-length Mirror)', about 1869-70
Oil on canvas
40 × 27 cm
© The National Gallery, London
Bought thanks to generous legacies from Mrs Martha Doris Bailey and Mr Richard Hillman Bailey, Miss Gillian Cleaver, and Ms Sheila Mary Holmes, with the support of the National Gallery Trust, 2024
The special, tax-advantageous price for the National Gallery by private treaty sale is £1.492 million.
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