Loading
Mme L... (Laure Borreau)
Gustave Courbet1863
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
Painted during Courbet's stay in the Saintonge region of western France, this portrait depicts Laure Borreau, owner of a fabric store and ladies confectionery. As the leader of the Realist movement in France, Courbet aimed to convey his democratic and socialist ideals by portraying ordinary people in a truthful, unidealized manner. While considering himself a radical innovator, Courbet nonetheless exhibited this portrait under the title Mme L... at the Paris Salon of 1863.
Show lessRead more
Download this artwork (provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Learn more about this artwork.
Details
- Title: Mme L... (Laure Borreau)
- Creator: Gustave Courbet (French, 1819–1877)
- Date Created: 1863
- Physical Dimensions: Framed: 112.4 x 93 x 12.1 cm (44 1/4 x 36 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 81 x 61.2 cm (31 7/8 x 24 1/8 in.)
- Provenance: (Drouot, Paris, France, Artist's estate sale, December 9, 1881, lot 11, stock number 2070, sold to Durand-Ruel), (Durand-Ruel, Paris France, December 10, 1881, sold to Max Flersheim), (Paul Rosenberg and Company, New York, NY by 1934, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.2
- Medium: oil on fabric
- Inscriptions: Signed lower right: Gustave Courbet / . . 63
- Fun Fact: Courbet once wrote of Laure Borreau, the sitter in this portrait, "I am in love with a splendid lady, the driving force behind my triumph."
- Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
- Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
- Accession Number: 1962.2
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
