"The Bowl of Milk," Berthe Morisot, 1890.

Morisot (1841-95) was one of the founding female Impressionists, along with American Mary Cassatt. As is sadly frequent with female painters of the time, she was denied the same opportunities as the male painters but turned them to her advantage, by depicting scenes of everyday life and female subjects, but with a then avent-garde style.

The subject is young Gabrielle Dufour, a girl she knew in the village of Mézy, where Morisot and her family stayed for a while. She did a number of pictures of Dufour; sadly, nothing is known of the girl's life after this. One assumes she had the life of any other village girl.

Morisot was very close to Edouard Manet and married his brother, Eugene; her daughter Julie's diaries, published as "Growing Up with the Impressionists," give a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of these treasured painters.

Happy Portrait Monday!

From a private collection.

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