November 27, 2013 — Maureen Gibbon
Victorine Meurent was Olympia
Victorine Meurent was born on February 18, 1844, not far from Canal Saint-Martin. She started posing for Manet when she was a teenager, and was his “modèle de predilection” for thirteen years.
She became an artist and exhibited at 1876 Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
She’s the first-person narrator and star of my novel, Paris Red.
Hello Maureen,
Having just discovered your website and your interest in Victorine Meurent, I was wondering
if you were familiar with the artist Paul Leclercq, a friend of Toulouse Lautrec, and his account
of visiting Lautrec’s studio in Montmartre one afternoon.
Forgive me if you are already familiar with this story, but Leclercq recounts how Lautrec told him that there was someone special that Leclercq should meet. So they left the studio and walked through the streets, only stopping to buy sugared almonds at a shop, till they came to an old porch in the Rue Douai. Lautrec led Leclercq up several flights of a poorly lit stairway. At the top of the stairs Lautrec knocked on the tiny door that was answered by an old woman whom Lautrec introduced as Manet’s Olympia. The old lady was in fact Victorine Meurent who had modelled for Manet many years prior.
Wishing you continued success with your work,
a bientôt,
Michael