The Pinned Hat

The charming scene of two girls pinning a summer hat served as the subject for a painting, a pastel (both dated 1893), several etchings (ca. 1894), and two pictures subsequently turned into lithographs for the publisher Vollard (1897/98). The artist’s decision to return to the same subject may in this instance also have something to do with the identity of his young models. The girls in question are Julie Manet (born 1878), the daughter of Edouart Manet’s younger brother Eugene, and the painter Berthe Morisot, seen with her older cousin, Paulette Gobillard. The artist had grown very fond of both girls, who often sat as models for him.