Purchased in 1989 from a gallery in Bern, this engraving of Edouard Manet’s celebrated painting Olympia is a must-see. After the scandal provoked by Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe at the Salon des Refusés in 1863, Manet presented Olympia at the Salon of 1865, once again shocking critics. Inspired by Titian’s Venus d’Urbain (1538), this work features a more traditional Venus in a reclining position known as Venus Pudica (“prudish Venus”) that still managed to upset the public. One reason was the possible identification of professional model Victorine Meurent, who was widely known in the capital. Another reason was the depiction of a cat (instead of Titian’s dog), seen by some as a symbol of eroticism. The reception of this work highlights a problematic aspect of art history: representing nude women is acceptable in the pretext of ancient or biblical themes, but causes a scandal outside these categories.
Engraving, inv. 4780
