Girl in a Garden
Oil on canvas
28 ¼ x 24 inches

(French, 1867-1946)

Paule Gobillard was the niece of the French Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot. There were three Morisot sisters: Yves (Paule's mother), Edma (who married Adolphe Pontillon) and Berthe. All three were talented painters, though Yves and Edma abandoned their painting -- Yves before marriage and Edma after marriage. Berthe Morisot was the quintessential Impressionist and was also the glue that held the other Impressionists together, even after they had gone their separate ways in regards to exhibiting. Thus Paule (as well as her sister Jeannie and their cousin Julie Manet, daughter of Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet, brother of the painter Edouard Manet) grew up in a context rich in art, began painting at an early age and became an accomplished artist who exhibited at the Paris Salon. She was best known for garden scenes and still life paintings.

Some sources give Gobillard's birth year as 1867 and others -- some of which are quite important in that they are sources to which people are likely to turn because of their association with significant exhibitions or sales of her works -- give her birth year as 1869. The correct date is December 3, 1867, which is confirmed by Julie Manet in her diary entry for December 3, 1895 (p. 78): "Paule is twenty-eight today. In fact I find this age very young, and younger still to be the head of a household. Poor Paule -- perhaps it's even harder for her than for us." Julie, Paule and Paule's sister Jeannie lived together at the time, after they had all been orphaned.

Chronology of Paule Gobillard's life

· 1867 - December 3: Born at Quimperlé, France (on the south coast of Brittany between Nantes and Brest) to Yves Morisot (1838-1893) and her husband Théodore Gobillard (1833-1879). Edgar Degas painted Yves that year.

· 1879 - Death of her Father, Théodore Gobillard (born 1833)

· 1883 - Death of Berthe Morisot's brother-in-law, painter Édouard Manet (born 1832)

· 1884 - Painted by her aunt Berthe Morisot

· 1887 - Painted twice by her aunt Berthe Morisot (Paule Gobillard, Peignant [Clairet #218] and Paule Gobillard en Robe de Bal [Clairet #214])

· 1893 - Death of Mother, Yves (Morisot) Gobillard (born 1838); Paule and Jeanne move into home of recently-widowed aunt Berthe Morisot (Mme. Eugène Manet) and their cousin Julie Manet at 40 rue de Villejust (now rue Paul Valéry)

· 1894 - Paule begins to exhibit her paintings;

· 1895 - Death of aunt Berthe Morisot (born 1841) August 23: visits (with sister Jeannie and cousin Julie) her birthplace in Quimperlé, which Julie Manet notes in her diary as "the house where Paule was born, in the square, a lovely riverside house, with roses around the door; December 3: 28th birthday, noted by Julie Manet in her diary (p. 78); December 16: photographed by Edgar Degas at home (40, rue de Villejust) with sister Jeanne, cousin Julie Manet, and Geneviève Mallarmé (daughter of the poet Stéphane Mallarmé and his wife Marie Gerhard)

· 1896 - Photographed by Edgar Degas with the poet Stéphane Mallarmé

· 1898 - Death of Stéphane Mallarmé, to whom Berthe Morisot had left the care of Julie Manet and the two Gobillard sisters

· Unknown Date Painted by her cousin Julie Manet

· 1900 - Double marriage of sister Jeanne Gobillard to Paul Valéry and cousin Julie Manet to Ernest Rouart

· 1903 - Paule exhibits 8 paintings at the Salon of the Independents; Birth of nephew Claude Valéry

· 1906 - Paule becomes member of the Fall Salon; Birth of niece Agathe Valéry; Death of widow of Édouard Manet, Suzanne Leenhoff (born 1830); Birth of Clément Rouart (son of cousin Julie Manet and Ernest Rouart)

· 1946 - Dies in Paris

Posthuomous Retrospective Exhibitions and Sales

· 1949 – Retrsopective exhibition at Durand-Ruel

· 1999 – 23 Sep-31 Oct: Exhibition at Galerie Scot (Paris)

· 2004 – June 30: Sale at Calmels-Cohen (Paris) of over 100 of her works from the collection of nephew François Valéry

Sources

· Calmels-Cohen 30 June 2004 Auction catalogue: This auction had over 100 of her works.

· Arbre Généalogique in Alain Clairet; Delphine Montalant; Yves Rouart. Berthe Morisot 1841-1895 Catalogue Raisonée de l'Oeuvre Peint . CÉRA-nrs.: Paris, 1997. (pp. 370-371)

· Manet, Julie, translated, edited and with an introduction by Rosalind de Boland Roberts and Jane Roberts. Growing Up with the Impressionists: The Diary of Julie Manet . Sotheby's Publications: London & New York, 1987.