After over a year of Urban Sketching whenever I had a spare moment,
there is nothing like copying an impressionist work to get back to
oil painting.
Eugène Boudin painted his "Déjeuner" in 1866 with the inscription: "à Mme Eug. Manet" (Edouard Manet's mother). He used a small wooden panel (17.5 x 25cm) and made certain references to both Manet and Monet's "Déjeuners":
Eugène Boudin painted his "Déjeuner" in 1866 with the inscription: "à Mme Eug. Manet" (Edouard Manet's mother). He used a small wooden panel (17.5 x 25cm) and made certain references to both Manet and Monet's "Déjeuners":
(1863) Manet's painting
(1865) Monet's painting
This is based on a reproduction but the book left me wondering about the inscription. I googled all the dates. Boudin was 42 when he painted this, Manet's mother (Eugénie) was 55 and had lost her husband four years earlier. He must have meant her because the other possible Mme Eug. Manet, Berthe Morisot, only married Manet's brother (Eugène) in 1874 and hadn't even met him yet when this was painted.
In any case, copying Boudin's beautiful skies are the perfect exercise before the start of the summer landscape painting season.
"Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe de Boudin" d'après E. Boudin
18 x 24 cm oil on canvas
