Painting of a young woman in a black and white striped gown, seated at a table with cherries, staring directly at the viewer.
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Girl with Cherries

Eva Gonzalès (French, 1849–1883)

c. 1870

Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
56.2 × 47.4 cm (22 1/16 × 18 5/8 in.); Framed: 83.9 × 75 × 12.1 cm (33 × 29 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.)
Culture
France
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

Girl with Cherries features a dramatically lit female figure, rendered in loose brushstrokes, emerging from a dark background. Rather than portraying her model as a contemporary woman, Eva Gonzalès dressed her as an 18th-century servant girl, denoted by her frilled linen cap; loose, striped gown; and rolled-up sleeves. Gonzalès, the daughter of an affluent and cultured family, was Édouard Manet’s first and only official pupil, and his influence is particularly clear in this painting: the use of theatrical lighting is reminiscent of his Spanish-style paintings, and the historical clothing reflects his predilection for dressing his models in costumes that suggest other personalities and professions.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0