Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has acquired Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus, following an 8 month campaign and with donations from hundreds of members of the public, the museum has succeeded in raising £7.83 million to acquire the Manet painting and keep it in the United Kingdom.
Edouard Manet, Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus, 1868. Oil on canvas, 111 x 70 cm.The painting was purchased by a foreign buyer in 2011 for £28.35 million. Following advice from the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, the picture was judged to be of outstanding cultural importance and was placed under a temporary export bar until 7 August 2012 by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey. Under the terms of a private treaty sale, the painting was made available to a British public institution for 27% of its market value, and it was purchased through the London Fine Art agent, Robert Holden Ltd. It is the most significant acquisition in the Ashmolean’s history.
The campaign has received lead support of £5.9 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), and a grant of £850,000 from The Art Fund. The final £1,080,000 was contributed via grants and donations from trusts, foundations and private individuals.
As well as to those who wish to remain anonymous, the Ashmolean Museum is extremely grateful to the Friends of the Ashmolean Museum; the Patrons of the Ashmolean Museum; the University of Oxford; Manny & Brigitta Davidson and family; Mr and Mrs Geoffrey de Jager; Sir Harry and Lady Djanogly; Mr Philip Mould; The Rothschild Foundation; The Dr Mortimer & Theresa Sackler Foundation; Mr and Mrs Timothy Sanderson; The Staples Trust ; Sir Adrian Swire; Mr and Mrs Bernard Taylor; Barrie and Deedee Wigmore; Mr and Mrs Brian Wilson; The JL Wine Charitable Trust and The Woodward Charitable Trust.
The Ashmolean also wishes to thank each of the 1,048 people who made a gift in response to our public appeal. The public appeal attracted gifts from across the globe, with donations ranging from £1.50 to £10,000.
Manet was one of the greatest painters of the 19th century. During his lifetime he was controversial, but his work, though it shocked the public, was hugely admired by artists. His reputation grew rapidly in the 20th century and consequently his best works were acquired by major museums. There are now remarkably few Manets in private collections, almost all in France, and there are only a handful of important pictures by Manet in the United Kingdom – in the National Gallery and the Courtauld Institute in London, as well as other works in Cardiff, Birmingham, and Glasgow. Adding to the Museum’s permanent collections and the Pissarro Family Collection, the acquisition of this masterpiece makes the Ashmolean a world-leading centre for the study of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist work.
The portrait is a first version of Le Balcon (1868–9) now in the Musée d’Orsay – one of the key images of the Impressionist movement. Initially inspired by the sight of people on a balcony, during a summer spent in Boulogne-sur-Mer with his family in 1868, Le Balcon famously draws on Goya’s Majas on a Balcony painted around 1810. It is also an important example of Manet’s work from the late 1860s onwards when he began to focus his attention on his family and close friends. The portrait’s subject is Fanny Claus (1846–77), the closest friend of Manet’s wife Suzanne Leenhoff. A concert violinist and member of the first all-women string quartet, Fanny was a member of a close-knit group of friends who also provided the artist with models. She married the artist Pierre Prins (1838–1913), another friend of Manet’s, in 1869, but died of tuberculosis just eight years later at the age of 30.
Having been acquired by the Ashmolean, Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus will be lent to public museums and galleries in a nationwide tour in 2013.
Founded in 1683, the Ashmolean is Britain’s oldest public museum and possibly the oldest museum in the world. In 2009 it reopened following a £61 million redevelopment. The new Ashmolean building, designed by award-winning architect Rick Mather, has received universal acclaim and numerous awards. It houses 39 new galleries, including the new special exhibition galleries, an Education Centre, state-of-the-art conservation studios, and Oxford’s first roof-top restaurant. Although completely invisible behind Charles Cockerell’s neo-classical façade, the Rick Mather building has provided the Museum with 100% more display space and the facilities to launch a major exhibitions programme. In 2011 six new galleries of Ancient Egypt and Nubia opened to the public, following a second phase of redevelopment. The redisplay of the Egyptian collections takes visitors on a chronological journey covering more than 5000 years of human occupation of the Nile Valley. The Ashmolean is now the most visited museum in the country outside London. Admission is free. www.ashmolean.org