Le Neveu de Berthe Morisot

The nephew referenced in this 1876 title has been identified as Tiburce Morisot, who appears in several works from this period. Family subjects — her daughter Julie, nieces, nephews, and intimate domestic scenes — constitute a major portion of her output, and this early example shows her extending the informal domestic genre to include the children around her. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux holds this as part of a French provincial collection that assembled Impressionist works through purchase and donation in the early twentieth century.

Morisot renders the child with a softness that stops short of sentimentality through the vigour of her touch. Individual strokes remain active throughout the figure, avoiding the smooth finish conventional in child portraiture.