Madame Michel-Lévy

Edouard Manet

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned woman wearing a tightly corseted dress looks off to our left in this vertical pastel drawing. The portrait is loosely sketched with blended areas, giving it a soft look. The woman’s body is angled to our left, and her hands touch in front of her lower belly. She looks off with large, wide set, slightly bulging green eyes under dark brows. She has a round face, full pink lips, and the suggestion of a dimple in her chin. Her dark brown hair is pulled up under a gold band, and bangs curl across her forehead. A short, delicate ringlet curls up the nape of her neck. She wears a light-colored, round earring in the ear we see and a string of pearls, which may hold a round jewel that rests in the hollow of her throat. Her dress is powder blue down the front and coffee bean brown to either side and on the sleeves. The edges of the brown sections are lined with flowers drawn loosely in shades of pastel pink, blue, yellow, and green. The low, curving neckline is edged with white ruffles, and the waist is cinched to an almost startling degree. The sleeves come down just past her elbow, and the cuffs are also lined with white ruffles. Long, tan-colored gloves stretch back to the cuffs. The background is fog gray. The artist signed and dated the pastel faintly in the lower left corner, “Manet 1882.”