Description
Autumn (Méry Laurent) is a portrait Édouard Manet painted in 1881–82: a young woman with wavy, red-gold hair is seen in profile, wrapped in a dark brown fur coat with a high collar, against a pale blue Japanese fabric scattered with flowers. The original, oil on canvas, 73 x 51 cm, belongs to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy. We hand-paint it in oil on canvas, in 7 portrait sizes from 30 x 45 to 65 x 92 cm or made to measure within that range, and send you a photograph before dispatch.
| Title: | Autumn (Méry Laurent) |
| Other titles: | L’Automne (French title) |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1881–82 |
| Original size: | 73 cm x 51 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, Nancy, France |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 7 sizes or made to measure |
Autumn (Méry Laurent) – Édouard Manet
What does Autumn (Méry Laurent) show?
The painting shows Méry Laurent, a friend of Manet, at half length in strict profile, facing left. Softly waved red-gold hair falls over her forehead, leaving bare the ear with its small earring with a blue stone set in gold, her only jewellery. Her skin runs from almost white on the nose to pink on the cheek, her lips coral red.
She wears a dark brown fur coat whose stand-up collar hides her neck. A dark band crosses her chest and holds a black muff that hides her hands. Fur and muff are the only hints of a cooler season, and so of the autumn in the title.
Behind her hangs not a wall but a light blue Japanese fabric strewn with orange, blue and yellow chrysanthemums, green leaves and small strokes of gold, all set down quickly and loosely beside the smooth, carefully worked face.
How did Autumn come about, and what does it mean?
Manet’s friend Antonin Proust asked him for four paintings of the seasons, each embodied by a beautiful woman. After Spring, posed by Jeanne Demarsy and a success at the 1882 Paris Salon, Manet took up Autumn with Méry Laurent; these two were all he finished before his death.
Manet wanted not an allegory of falling leaves but the fashionable Parisienne of his day, the kind a flâneur might pass in the Tuileries Garden; the season is told by fur and a muff.
The strict profile recalls Italian Renaissance portraits, and John Rewald and Françoise Cachin name Pisanello’s portrait of a princess of the House of Este, known to Manet from the Louvre, as its model.
Why is this painting so admired?
Édouard Manet (1832–1883), one of the first nineteenth-century artists to paint modern life, was a pivotal figure between Realism and Impressionism. Autumn is a late work and the last of the seasons he lived to paint, its blue fabric and brown coat bringing out the pink of her complexion.
It was also the first Manet to enter a French provincial museum; a short Wikipedia article on the painting covers its history in English.
Where is the original, and who was Méry Laurent?
The original, oil on canvas measuring 73 x 51 cm (height x width), belongs to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, inventory number 1071.
Méry Laurent, an actress on the Paris stage, met Manet in 1876 and became his confidante and friend, as his tender letters to her show; she also collected his work.
According to Antonin Proust, she bought the coat for these sittings from the Paris fashion house of Charles Frederick Worth, and the kimono behind her was borrowed from Proust himself.
Neither signed nor dated, which with Manet usually means he thought it unfinished, the painting stayed with him until his death in 1883. It was first shown in January 1884 at a memorial exhibition at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, then passed to Méry Laurent, who kept it until her death in 1900 and left it to the museum of her birthplace, Nancy.
Autumn (Méry Laurent) or another Manet?
This canvas painting suits anyone drawn to one calm face and warm against cool colour, on a narrow wall or in a bedroom.
Another quiet portrait is Berthe Morisot Reclining, the painter in a black dress with a black ribbon at her throat against a dark cushion. Flower lovers will like the two white peonies and shears on a dark table in Branch of White Peonies and Shears.
For a lighter mood there is Boy with Cherries, a smiling boy in a red cap holding cherries, or On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer, a pale beach with small figures, parasols and sails on a turquoise sea.
Portraits, still lifes and seaside scenes: our Édouard Manet page gathers all the famous Manet paintings we paint to order.
How do we hand-paint Autumn (Méry Laurent)?
The original is a mid-sized oil on canvas, 73 cm tall; ours is an oil painting reproduction built up in oil on canvas, in thin layers, at the size you choose.
Our painter first draws the profile, forehead, nose, lips and chin, since that one clean line carries the portrait. Then come the light blue ground and the dark brown coat, the fur worked in dense, soft strokes.
Last come the chrysanthemums, gold flecks, coral lips and the blue stone at the ear; the background stays loose as Manet left it and the face smooth, so it stands clear of the flowered pattern on your wall too.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 30 x 45 or 35 x 50 cm for a shelf, 40 x 55 and 45 x 65 cm for a narrow wall or hallway, 50 x 75 cm above a chest of drawers, 59 x 81 or 65 x 92 cm above a bed or sofa.
We paint it in 7 portrait sizes (width x height): 30 x 45, 35 x 50, 40 x 55, 45 x 65, 50 x 75, 59 x 81 and 65 x 92 cm. The original measures 51 x 73 cm (width x height), so the four sizes up to 45 x 65 cm are smaller, 50 x 75 cm is about the same, and 59 x 81 and 65 x 92 cm are slightly larger.
We stop at 65 x 92 cm because the only good photograph of the original available to us is small; any larger and the detail of the face and fabric would be lost.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 59 x 81 or 65 x 92 cm, where the blue pattern and the brown fur still read from a few metres away.
Can I order a custom size and a frame?
Yes, anywhere between 30 x 45 and 65 x 92 cm. For other proportions we keep the profile, coat and earring whole and adjust only the edge of the fabric; send us the size you need for this portrait and we will quote a price and a date.
We ship Méry Laurent rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, with the stretching and framing done by our workshop in Slovenia. The moulding is picked in our 3D app, which only serves to choose a frame; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service. Slim gold picks up the gold flecks in the fabric, dark brown wood the tone of the fur.
When will my painting arrive, and how is it sent?
Your painter starts once you confirm the order, and the painting is ready to ship in 15 to 45 working days; before packing, we send you a photograph of it and make any changes you ask for.
Delivery within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU is without customs duties, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
A portrait in autumn colours suits an October birthday or a new home; if the wall is unknown, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose the size of their Méry Laurent.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, France, under inventory number 1071.
Who is the woman in the fur coat?
Méry Laurent, a Paris actress and Manet’s confidante, who later left the painting to the museum of her home town.
Is this a print?
No. Each one is a hand-painted copy, which the painter applies to the canvas with brushes and oil paint.
How big is the original?
It measures 73 x 51 cm (height x width); our 50 x 75 cm size is almost the same, and 59 x 81 and 65 x 92 cm are a little larger.
Why are there no sizes above 65 x 92 cm?
Because the only good photograph of the original is small, and a bigger enlargement would not hold the detail.
How long does it take to make?
Between 15 and 45 working days, with a photograph of the finished portrait sent before dispatch.
Is it right for a bedroom, or as a gift?
Yes. The calm profile and soft colours suit a bedroom, and it pleases anyone who loves portraits.
Why is the painting called Autumn?
Because it belongs to a commissioned cycle of the four seasons; the fur coat and the muff stand for autumn.
- Subject: Méry Laurent in profile, in a dark brown fur coat, before a light blue Japanese fabric with flowers.
- Original: oil on canvas, 1881–82, 73 x 51 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy.
- Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction hand-painted in oil on canvas, 7 sizes from 30 x 45 to 65 x 92 cm, or made to measure within that range.
- Worth knowing: the first Manet to enter a French provincial museum, bequeathed by the sitter herself.
