Julie Manet with Cat by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Interpretation and Analysis)

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Julie Manet with Cat
Source: Musée d'Orsay
In keeping with my continuous efforts to celebrate cats in art, today I am going to be chatting about a rather adorable painting: Portrait of Julie Manet with Cat.

The painting depicts Julie Manet—the niece of the famed French painter Édouard Manet and the daughter of the great impressionist painter Berthe Morisot—at age nine. Morisot and her husband Eugène Manet commissioned their good friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir, one of the greatest and most famous painters of the impressionist movement, to paint their daughter Julie.

Here, Renoir depicts Julie in a white dress with a smiling cat on her lap. According to the Musée d'Orsay, the painting is a good example of Renoir's "Ingresque" period (that is, similar to the art of the French Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres). Julie’s smooth, placid expression and round face invites the comparison to Ingres’ doll-like portraits of women.

Renoir’s painting of Julie, however, has more personality. Renoir knew the family well, and he conveys Julie’s character in this piece. The addition of the cat on her lap adds a degree of informality and intimacy to the otherwise formal portrait. The smiling face of the kitten also adds a sense of childish fun.

Julie Manet herself lived a rather interesting life. As the daughter and niece of two famous impressionist artists, Julie was enmeshed in the vibrant and exciting world of French art. She met and posed for many well-known artists, including her uncle Édouard Manet, her mother Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas and Claude Monet. She eventually published her memoirs detailing her experiences with these artists. If you’d like to read more about Julie Manet and her life among the impressionists, I recommend that you read this excellent article.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.

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