People of Popincourt, rejoice!
Today you can celebrate the birthday of your very special neigborhood girl.
On February 18, 1844 Victorine Meurent was born in your midst, at 39 rue de la Folie-Méricourt, today the rue Popincourt, Paris. The Brasserie du Prince Eugène was on the ground floor. The rest of the six story building contained one or two room apartments.
In one of those lived the “ciseleur” Jean-Louis-Étienne Meurent with his wife Louise-Thérèse Lemesre who gave birth to a baby girl that 18 years later would become the favorite model of Édouard Manet and help him to change the face of painting.
I shall dedicate a number of posts to her over the coming weeks in an effort to get to know her better.
Édouard Manet, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on canvas, 208 × 264 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris (detail)
