Berthe Morisot

Although her gender and elevated social class excluded her from attending art school and from participating in the café culture of Paris, Morisot became an informal pupil of Camille Corot and a member of the Impressionist group, exhibiting in seven of their eight exhibitions. In the late 1860s, Henri Fantin-Latour introduced her to Édouard Manet, with whom she established a close personal and professional relationship (see Manet’s remarkable portrait of her in the Museum’s 19th-century galleries on the 5th floor). At this time, she also became friendly with Degas. Artists such as he, Renoir, and Mary Cassatt would often gather at her home.

Morisot is best known for the play of light across her scenes of bourgeois domesticity. The RISD drawing features her typical theme of a stylish mother with her daughter, adeptly captured during a fleeting moment.