Courbet made this painting during an 1858 trip to Brussels intended to cultivate a Belgian market for his work. It was commissioned as a betrothal portrait by the sitter’s fiancé, a doctor originally from Germany who belonged to progressive political circles, like Courbet himself. Shown in Antwerp in the summer of 1858, the picture earned praise for its forthright portrayal of a woman who was not conventionally beautiful, but seemed "strong-willed . . . and full of spirit." The painting remained in the sitter’s family until it was purchased in 1907, at the recommendation of Mary Cassatt, by Louisine and H.O. Havemeyer.
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Title:Madame Frederic Breyer (Fanny Hélène Van Bruyssel, 1830–1894)
Artist:Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819–1877 La Tour-de-Peilz)
Date:1858
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:36 x 28 5/8 in. (91.4 x 72.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.118
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): G. Courbet..58
the family of the sitter, Brussels (until 1907; sold, spring 1907, through Théodore Duret and Mary Cassatt to Havemeyer); Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (until his d. 1907; shipped to them by Durand-Ruel, May 11, 1907, deposit no. 11181, as "Portrait de femme"); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 90–91, ill.)
Antwerp. Société royale pour l'encouragement des beaux-arts. "Salon d'Anvers," August 8–?, 1858, no. 150 (as "Portrait de Mme X . . . ," lent by M. le docteur Breyer [sic], Brussels).
Brussels. Cercle Artistique et Littéraire. "14 tableaux de Gustave Courbet exposés appartenant à des collectionneurs belges," January 22–27, 1878 [see Fernier 1977].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings," May 3–September 15, 1921, no. 25 (as "Polish Exile—Madame de Brayer," lent anonymously).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 26 (as "The Polish Exile—Mme de Brayer) [2nd ed., 1958, no. 84].
Art Institute of Chicago. "A Century of Progress," June 1–November 1, 1934, no. 178.
Paris. Palais National des Arts. "Chefs d'œuvre de l'art français," July–September 1937, no. 278.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 2–28, 1951, no catalogue.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 14–December 12, 1951, no catalogue.
City Art Museum of St. Louis. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 6–February 4, 1952, no catalogue.
Seattle Art Museum. "Thirty-Eight Great Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 1–June 30, 1952, no catalogue.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," December 17, 1959–February 14, 1960, no. 34.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," February 26–April 14, 1960, no. 34.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 75).
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," September 30, 1977–January 2, 1978, no. 56.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Gustave Courbet, 1819–1877," January 19–March 19, 1978, no. 53.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Courbet Reconsidered," February 18–April 30, 1989, no. 31.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A129.
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. "Courbet: Artiste et promoteur de son oeuvre," November 21, 1998–March 7, 1999, no. 11 (as "Portrait de Mme de Brayer" or "L'exilée polonaise").
Stockholm. Nationalmuseum. "Gustave Courbet: en revoltör lanserar sitt verk," March 26–May 30, 1999, no. 11.
Brussels. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "Bruxelles: Carrefour de cultures," September 8–November 5, 2000, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 25.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Gustave Courbet," October 13, 2007–January 28, 2008, no. 141.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Gustave Courbet," February 27–May 18, 2008, no. 141.
Gustave Courbet. Letter to unknown correspondent from Brussels. April? 1858, states that he has a portrait commissioned in Brussels that he has to finish before visiting Frankfurt, possibly this painting [see Lion Heart Autographs 2020].
Gustave Courbet. Letter to his father, Régis Courbet. June or July? 1858, writing from Brussels, states that he is cultivating a clientele and that he has "two more paintings to do here," possibly including the present work [see Chu 1992].
F. van den Berghen. "Exposition d'Anvers." L'artiste, n.s., 5 (September 5, 1858), pp. 4–5, in a review of Exh. Antwerp 1858, calls this picture "le plus fort de toute la galerie".
J. H. "Exposition nationale des beaux-arts, à Anvers: Correspondance particulière de la Meuse, deuxième et dernier article." La meuse no. 22 (September 17, 1858), p. 2, praises the portrait for its color and the individuality of the model, but notes the muscles in the neck are exaggerated.
X. X. "Exposition d’Anvers, quatrième et dernier article." L’indépendance belge 28 (October 2, 1858), p. 1, remarks on the well-modeled hands and skillful brushwork but criticizes the clumsy drawing of the head and the total lack of feminine grace.
Camille Lemonnier. "Exposition Courbet au Cercle Artistique et Littéraire." L’artiste: Courrier hebdomadaire artistique, littéraire, musical (February 5, 1878), p. 32 [reprinted in Lemonnier 1878 and Lemonnier 1888], describes a portrait of a thin woman “affublée d’une laideur sentimentale et pincée” [probably this painting]; disparages its restricted color and the model’s stiffness of demeanor but praises the handling of the hands.
Camille Lemonnier. G. Courbet et son oeuvre. Paris, [1878], p. 72.
Camille Lemonnier. Les Peintres de la vie. Paris, 1888, pp. 49–50.
J. Krexpel. "L'exposition des portraits des maîtres du siècle, à Bruxelles." La Revue blanche, série 3, 2 (May 1890), p. 57, as a portrait of Madame Bayer [sic].
Mary Cassatt. Letter to Louisine Havemeyer. June 2, [1906], writes that “there is a fine woman’s portrait” that she admired “in Belgium,” which “[Théodore] Duret hopes to be able to get,” presumably this painting [see Stein 1993].
H[arry]. B. W[ehle]. "Loan Exhibition of Modern French Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (May 1921), p. 94, notes that this work was painted during Courbet's stay in Brussels in 1858, and quotes Duret's opinion of it, "for power of expression and life perhaps the most successful that Courbet ever painted".
Charles Léger. Courbet. Paris, 1929, p. 74.
Harry B. Wehle. "The Exhibition of the H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 25 (March 1930), p. 55.
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 90–91, ill., calls it "Portrait of Madame de Brayer".
C. J. Bulliet. 1934 Art Masterpieces in a Century of Progress Fine Arts Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1934, unpaginated, no. 35, ill.
Charles Sterling inChefs d'œuvre de l'art français. Exh. cat., Palais National des Arts. Paris, 1937, p. 140, no. 278.
Charles Léger. Courbet et son temps (Lettres et documents inédits). Paris, 1948, pp. 66, 192, 196, quotes a letter from Mrs. Havemeyer to Théodore Duret, in which she mentions this picture without identifying the sitter.
Gerstle Mack. Gustave Courbet. New York, 1951, p. 150.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 22.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, p. 188, describes seeing the picture in a private collection in Brussels, and notes Duret's and Degas' high opinions of it.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, pp. 118–19, ill., notes that it was formerly called "The Polish Exile".
Robert Fernier. La vie et l'oeuvre de Gustave Courbet. Vol. 1, Peintures, 1819–1865. Lausanne, 1977, pp. 144–45, no. 232, ill., calls it "Portrait de Mme de Brayer, dite l'exilée polonaise".
Hélène Toussaint inGustave Courbet, 1819–1877. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. London, 1978, pp. 133–34, no. 53, ill. [French ed., 1977, p. 148, no. 56, ill.], considers it "one of Courbet's finest portraits, recalling Bronzino and the noble portraitists of the Renaissance".
Pierre Courthion. L'opera completa di Courbet. Milan, 1985, p. 85–86, no. 224, ill.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 178, 180, 245, 257, pl. 137, describes the Havemeyers' acquisition of this picture during a trip to Brussels with Mary Cassatt in 1907, stating that Théodore Duret was also present.
Ann Dumas in Sarah Faunce and Linda Nochlin. Courbet Reconsidered. Exh. cat., Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn, 1988, pp. 132–33, no. 31, ill. (color).
Klaus Herding. Courbet: To Venture Independence. New Haven, 1991, p. 243 n. 49, suggests it is probably Courbet's earliest use of a planar, non-objective background color.
Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, ed. Letters of Gustave Courbet.. By Gustave Courbet. Chicago, 1992, pp. 158, 160 n. 2, reprints a letter from Courbet to his father, which she dates 1858, suggesting that it refers to this painting (see Courbet 1858).
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 188, 202, 329 n. 261.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 246, 278, pl. 244, tentatively identifies it as the painting referred to in Cassatt 1906; adds that it was delivered by Cassatt to Durand-Ruel on May 7, 1907, for shipment to the Havemeyers four days later.
Gary Tinterow inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 24.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 312, no. A129, ill. p. 313.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 425, ill.
Jörg Zutter inCourbet: Artiste et promoteur de son œuvre. Ed. Jörg Zutter and Petra ten-Doesschate Chu. Exh. cat., Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Paris, 1998, pp. 20, 30, 132, no. 11, colorpl. 71, remarks on the use of a balustrade to separate the interior from the exterior; observes that, despite the title, the identity of the sitter is unknown, but suggests that the black dress, hair brooch, and seriousness of the sitter allude to her widowhood.
Rebecca A. Rabinow. "Modern Art Comes to the Metropolitan: The 1921 Exhibition of 'Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings'." Apollo 152 (October 2000), p. 10.
Valérie Bajou. Courbet. Paris, 2003, pp. 316–17, ill. (color), questions the identity of the sitter as Madame de Brayer, in spite of the picture's title, and remarks that the model is unknown.
Kathryn Calley Galitz inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 45, 199, no. 25, ill. (color and black and white).
Kathryn Calley Galitz inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 57, 233–34, no. 54, ill. (color and black and white).
Kathryn Calley Galitz inGustave Courbet. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2008, pp. 149, 306–7, no. 141, ill. (color) [French ed., Paris, 2007].
Jean-Philippe Huys inGustave Courbet et la Belgique: Réalisme de l'art vivant à l'art libre. Exh. cat., Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Milan, 2013, pp. 77, 115, 121, 165, 177, fig. 33 (color).
Jeffery Howe inGustave Courbet et la Belgique: Réalisme de l'art vivant à l'art libre. Exh. cat., Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Milan, 2013, pp. 136, 143 n. 33.
Dominique Marechal inGustave Courbet et la Belgique: Réalisme de l'art vivant à l'art libre. Exh. cat., Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Milan, 2013, pp. 42, 52 n. 54, fig. 33 (color detail).
Jeffery Howe inCourbet: Mapping Realism; Paintings from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and American Collections. Ed. Jeffery Howe. Exh. cat., McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. Chestnut Hill, Mass., 2013, pp. 14, 19 n. 60.
Dominique Marechal inCourbet: Mapping Realism; Paintings from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and American Collections. Ed. Jeffery Howe. Exh. cat., McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. Chestnut Hill, Mass., 2013, pp. 33, 36 n. 49, fig. 11.
Dominique Marechal. "'Madame de Brayer' identified: Courbet and His Brussels Portraits, 1856–58." Burlington Magazine 161 (September 2019), pp. 732–36, fig. 1 and ill. p. 705 (color, overall and detail), identifies the sitter as Fanny Breyer (Fanny Van Bruyssel), the second wife of Dr. Frederic Breyer of Brussels; describes their intellectual social milieu, its shared politically progressive views, and its influence on the painter; proposes that the picture was a commission from Dr. Breyer as a betrothal gift to his wife before their marriage; compares the painting's size, the chairs depicted, and the sitter's clothing to those of Courbet's "Portrait of Madame Léon Fontaine" (here called "Portrait of Laure Janné"; 1856–57, Musées Royaux de Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels).
Rare & Remarkable Autographs at Auction. Lion Heart Autographs. October 21, 2020, unpaginated, no. 21314, ill. (color) [https://lionheartautographs.com/autographs/rare-art-related-autograph-letter-by-the-pioneering-french-painter/], states that Courbet April? 1858 may refer to The Met's picture.
Laura D. Corey and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen. "Visions of Collecting." Making The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 35, 265 n. 33.
Dominique Marechal. "Gustave Courbet in Brussels: Two of His Female Sitters and their Radical Social and Political Circles." Burlington Magazine 163 (May 2021), pp. 444–46 n. 1, fig. 3 (color), discusses the radical social and political milieu of the sitter and her husband.
Francis Sartorius inNouvelle Biographie Nationale. Vol. 16, Brussels, 2023, p. 35.
On June 2, 1906, Mary Cassatt wrote to Louisine Havemeyer that "there is a fine woman’s portrait" that she admired "in Belgium," which "[Théodore] Duret hopes to be able to get," presumably this painting. (for Cassatt 1906, see Stein 1993, p. 246).
In the memoir she drafted in 1915, Havemeyer recalled her first encounter with the painting, which occurred in late April 1907. She wrote:
"I have several portraits [by Courbet]. One, for which I share Degas’s admiration, is that of Mme Brayer. I believe she was a Polish exile, married to a Belgian who lived in Brussels. I remember that Mr. Havemeyer, Miss Cassatt, and I made a one-day trip to Brussels in the grande vitesse to see it. We found it in a modest apartment, and the portrait of the poor exile hung in a frame that beggared description; for years afterwards, the very mention of that frame brought expressions of fierce indignation from Miss Cassatt. Even the color of the gold was bad; the heavy moldings of the frame flopped over the moldings of the room. It crowded the other pictures hanging on the walls; even the lovely woman seemed to shrink away from it, and the delicately folded hands, hands which Degas said were like Rembrandt—you see Degas was in line on Courbet’s resemblance to Rembrandt also—lay folded upon her knee, as if she had to hold them there in Christian resignation instead of struggling to get free from that gilded scaffolding that surrounded her. It was a beautiful, ideal countenance, expressing the pathos and the suffering of her race. Courbet must have felt the tenderest respect for the noble woman, whom he placed in a simple pose in her quiet dark dress, the low lace collar at her throat fastened with the large brooch of Queen Victoria’s time" (Havemeyer 1993, p. 188).
The painting was purchased by the Havemeyers, evidently with Duret and Cassatt as intermediaries. Cassatt deposited the painting, together with several others, with Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, on May 7, 1907. The group was shipped to New York on May 11 (Stein 1993, p. 246).
It has been said that Duret accompanied the Havemeyers and Cassatt on their April 1907 visit to Brussels (Weitzenhoffer 1986, p. 178), but a close reading of Havemeyer’s text (Havemeyer 1993, p. 189) suggests that Duret was not there. Yet there is no question that Duret had firsthand knowledge of the painting and was impressed by it, because Louisine Havemeyer stated "Théodore Duret, art critic, thought this Courbet’s finest portrait, as painting goes . . . ." (Havemeyer 1993, p. 189). His assessment was quoted in the catalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, to which Havemeyer lent the picture anonymously in 1921: "Théodore Duret writes of this portrait, ‘It is a painting of rare quality, and for power of expression and life perhaps the most successful that Courbet ever painted’" (New York 1921 and Wehle 1921, neither one with further citation).
An excerpt from a letter or cable from Havemeyer to Duret, probably dated 1907, described her most recent Courbet acquisition: "It’s a very beautiful canvas . . . I call it Mme X . . . and painted in 58." It is not possible to confirm the accuracy of this quotation as published (see Léger 1948).
It is not known when Edgar Degas saw the painting. Perhaps it was during the four-day period between May 7 and 11, 1907, when it was at Durand-Ruel’s. It is possible that Cassatt communicated his reaction to Havemeyer.
Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819–1877 La Tour-de-Peilz)
ca. 1868–77
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