Portrait of a Lady

Portrait of a Lady (1879), at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, represents Manet's engagement with the anonymous female portrait—a sitter identified by social type rather than individual name. Such works allowed him to explore the formal possibilities of the portrait format without the social obligations attached to a named commission. The National Gallery of Art's holding places the work within a significant public collection that acquired it as a characteristic example of Manet's late portrait style, valued for its technical refinement and psychological directness rather than for the identity of the sitter.

Manet's late portrait style is displayed to full effect here—fluid, confident brushwork that achieves a vivid sense of presence through selective emphasis rather than comprehensive description. The face is the compositional centre, painted with the nuanced tonal variations he brought to his most sustained figure work. Costume and setting are rendered more summarily, directing full attention to the sitter's expression and personality.