Reading — About This Work
Berthe Morisot, 1873
About the Work
Edma, Morisot's sister, sits reading in a field, with her parasol and fan left on the grass. Her absorbed pose gives the broad outdoor setting a private centre, while the white dress catches variations of light and shade.
The floral pattern of the dress finds an echo in the meadow. Figure and landscape remain distinct, yet their colours and small marks lead the eye between them, connecting the reader's sheltered moment with the open space behind her.
The museum identifies revisions to the figure through X-ray examination. That evidence gives another dimension to the apparent ease of the scene: the final arrangement emerged through changes, rather than simply recording an untouched moment.
The Work
Artist: Berthe Morisot
Title: Reading
Date: 1873
Medium: Oil on canvas
Recorded dimensions: 71.8 × 46 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1950.89
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 60 × 80 cm Classic Frame, landscape.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0. Gift of the Hanna Fund. 1950.89.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
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