Pauline Metternich, wife of the Austrian ambassador at the court of Napoleon III, was a famously homely yet chic style icon known for her sense of wit; she was said to have referred to herself as "the fashion monkey." Boudin achieved success with his scenes of stylishly dressed families taking the sea air at Trouville and other beach resorts, and apart from Empress Eugénie, no woman would have aroused more interest on the beach than her friend Princess Metternich.
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Credit Line:The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1999, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002
Object Number:1999.288.1
Monsieur Duval, Paris (from 1867; bought from the artist); Kuenegel, Le Havre (until March 1967; sold to Wildenstein); [Wildenstein, New York, 1967; sold on April 13 to Haupt]; Mrs. Ira (Enid A.) Haupt, New York (1967–83; sold to Annenberg); her brother and his wife, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1983–99; jointly with The Met, 1999–his d. 2002)
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat. (as "Princess Metternich on the Beach").
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
G. Jean-Aubry with Robert Schmit. Eugène Boudin. [French ed., 1968]. Greenwich, Conn., 1968, ill. p. 83 (color), calls it "Princess Metternich on Trouville beach" and dates it 1869.
Robert Schmit. Eugène Boudin, 1824–1898. Paris, 1973, vol. 1, p. 131, no. 356, ill., dates it about 1865–67.
Robert Schmit. Eugène Boudin, 1824–1898. Vol. 1, Premier supplément. Paris, 1984, p. 136, no. 356, notes that Duval, a gilder, bought this picture from Boudin in 1867.
G. Jean-Aubry and Robert Schmit. Eugène Boudin. Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1987, ill. p. 94 (color).
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Colin B. Bailey, Joseph J. Rishel, and Mark Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. 8–9, 133, ill. (color and black and white), dates it about 1865–67.
Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), p. 36.
Robert Schmit and Manuel Schmit. Eugène Boudin, 1824–1898. Vol. 2, Deuxième supplément. Paris, 1993, p. 200, no. 356
.
Marie Simon. Fashion in Art: The Second Empire and Impressionism. London, 1995, pp. 180–81, ill. (color).
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 434, ill.
Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1999–2000." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 58 (Fall 2000), p. 42, ill. (color).
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein and Asher Ethan Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. 13–15, no. 4, ill. (color).
George T. M. Shackelford inMonet: The Early Years. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum. Fort Worth, 2016, p. 152, fig. 113 (color), compares the picture to Monet's "Camille on the Beach" (1870, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris).
Géraldine Lefebvre inMonet / Boudin. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2018, p. 39, fig. 18 (color).
An oil portrait of the princess by Degas is in the National Gallery, London.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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