Julie Manet

Who was Julie Manet?

Julie Manet was a French painter and art collector.

Born in Paris, Julie Manet was the daughter and only child of artist Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet, younger brother of painter Édouard Manet. The death of both parents within a three-year period left her orphaned at the age of 16. As a result, she came under the guardianship of the poet/critic Stéphane Mallarmé and went to live with her cousins. She also received support from the family's artist friends, Renoir in particular.

Throughout her life Julie posed frequently for her mother and other Impressionist artists, including Renoir and her uncle Édouard.

Her teenage diary, published in English as Growing up with the Impressionists, provides insights into the lives of French painters, including Renoir, Degas, Monet, and Sisley, as well the 1896 state visit of Tsar Nicholas II and the Dreyfus Affair, which was then raging in France. Notably, her candid accounts of dinner-table conversations about that Affair cast light on Renoir’s privately held views on patriotism and anti-Semitism.

In May 1900 Julie married Ernest Rouart, artist and nephew of the painter Henri Rouart. The wedding, which took place in Passy, was a double ceremony in which Julie's cousin Jeannie Gobillard married Paul Valéry.