About the Cover

Mademoiselle Louise Riesener in a Hat, c. 1877–80

Berthe Morisot

(French, 1841–1895)

France, 19th century

Medium: Pastel on pale blue laid paper

Measurements: Sheet: 55.5 x 46.8 cm (21 7/8 x 18 7/16 in.); Framed: 75.3 x 66.2 x 4.5 cm (29 5/8 x 26 1/16 x 1 3/4 in.)

Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1958.41

DESCRIPTION

In this pastel on pale blue laid paper, Berthe Morisot captures her longtime friend Louise Riesener in profile. Louise was the daughter of the painter Léon Riesener, a first cousin of Eugène Delacroix and a respected colorist, so she grew up within the same circle that shaped Morisot’s artistic development.  

This pastel, made around 1877–80, dates to the years when Morisot most heavily favored this medium, particularly for portraits of women. Louise’s face is turned to catch the light beneath her black hat. Wisps of pale blue pastel, a tint from the paper beneath, trail around her head. A dark jacket opens just enough to reveal the decorative white ties of her blouse. The hat itself receives some of the drawing’s most careful attention, an accessory that an upper-middle-class Parisian woman wore in public.

Morisot came from a prominent Parisian family and trained privately before finding her footing among the artists who would become the Impressionists. In 1874, she exhibited ten works in the movement’s first group exhibition. She was the only woman among the participants and went on to show with the group in all but one of its eight exhibitions over the next decade. That same year, she married Eugène Manet, the brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet. In 1878, the couple had their only child, Julie, who would go on to sit for her mother and for other Impressionists throughout her childhood.

In March 1895, Morisot died of pneumonia contracted while nursing sixteen-year-old Julie through a bout of the same illness, leaving her daughter orphaned within a few years of losing her father as well. Morisot has been grouped with Mary Cassatt and Marie Bracquemond as “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism, a title that highlights the trailblazing women who overcame gender barriers to exhibit alongside male counterparts like Monet, Degas, and Renoir.

References

1 Mademoiselle Louise Riesener in a Hat. Berthe Morisot, c. 1877–80. Cleveland Museum of Art. Accessed July 2026. www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.41

2 Berthe Morisot. Wikipedia. Accessed July 2026. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthe_Morisot

3 Louise Riesener – Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot. Musée d’Orsay. Accessed July 2026. www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/louise-riesener-21321

4 Léon Riesener. Wikipedia. Accessed July 2026. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_Riesener

5 Berthe Morisot. National Gallery, London. Accessed July 2026. www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/berthe-morisot