Description
Painted during Courbet's stay in the Saintonge region of western France, this portrait depicts Laure Borreau, owner of a fabric store and ladies confectionery. As the leader of the Realist movement in France, Courbet aimed to convey his democratic and socialist ideals by portraying ordinary people in a truthful, unidealized manner. While considering himself a radical innovator, Courbet nonetheless exhibited this portrait under the title Mme L... at the Paris Salon of 1863.
Provenance
(Drouot, Paris, France, Artist's estate sale, December 9, 1881, lot 11, stock number 2070, sold to Durand-Ruel) (1881); (Durand-Ruel, Paris France, December 10, 1881, sold to Max Flersheim) (1881); (Paul Rosenberg and Company, New York, NY by 1934, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962) (by 1934-1962); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1962-)
Accession Number
1962.2
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
Framed: 112.4 x 93 x 12.1 cm (44 1/4 x 36 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 81 x 61.2 cm (31 7/8 x 24 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
