The Traveler

For this large-scale depiction of his favorite model, Désirée Manfred, Jacques-Emile Blanche composed a dramatic portrait teeming with narrative potential. A letter lies at the sitter’s feet alongside the glove she would have removed to open it. Her stoic expression suggests that its contents delivered grave, even ominous news. Rather than capturing a real moment in time, however, this painting plays with theatrical props, costume, and background scenery to transform its sitter into a character—the elegant and mysterious traveler. Over the course of his career, Blanche captured Manfred in various guises, both female and male. Such genre portraits were popularized by earlier painters, including one of Blanche’s greatest influences, Édouard Manet.