Manet, Édouard (1832-1883)
L’Amazone (The Equestrienne)
c.1875–1876
Watercolor on paper, 20.8 x 27 cm
Brooklyn Museum, New York
In the mid-nineteenth century, the term amazone mockingly referred to fashionable Parisian women who preferred to ride on horseback instead of inside a carriage, and wore elegant costumes while doing so. Édouard Manet, a committed observer of Parisian life, was particularly attuned to the fashions of the era, often taking as his subject the leisure activities of modern urban women. In this watercolor, he used loose, rapid brushstrokes to form the rider’s light brown jacket, black skirt and bow tie, and jaunty boaterlike hat. The brilliant ultramarine background and stark white of untouched paper suggest a moment of sunlit stillness before she sets off. (BkM)