Marie-Hortense Fiquet around 1870 | Madame Cézanne in a red armchair, 1877
Cezanne painted 29 portraits and made countless drawings of Hortense Fiquet. He drew and painted his mistress in graphite, watercolor, and oil. The first painting exists only in a photograph, and the second was of Fiquet nursing their baby.
1872
Fiquet and Cezanne met in Paris sometime around 1869. Cezanne was a 30 year old painter living on a small allowance from his wealthy banker father, and Fiquet was a 19 year old bookbinder with a side gig as an artist’s model. Hortense started modeling for Cezanne at least starting at age 22. She continued to be his muse for more than 20 years, 17 of which was before their marriage, as Cezanne attempted to hide knowledge of her and their son from his father, for fear that his father would cut his allowance. Despite the secrecy, and even before their marriage, the Parisian Hortense Fiquet came to be known as “Madame Cezanne.”
It is difficult to place the portraits in chronological order because the artist tended to rework his portraits over long periods of time. I did find some dates, however, and though there were a few conflicts in the information, I was able to pull together an approximate timeline. It was noted that in the earlier paintings Hortense looks somewhat self-consciously away, but by the mid-1880s she is unabashedly staring at the artist.
Below is a selection of Cezanne’s portraits of his greatest muse Hortense Fiquet.
1881
1882
1882
1884
1884
1886
1888
1893
1897
18741877 Between 1879 and 1882 1881Between 1882 and 1884 1885Between 1885 and 18861885 until 1887 1885 until 1887 1885 until 1887 1885Between 1886 and 1887Between 1888 and 1890 Between 1888 and 18901888 Between 1888 and 18901890 1890 until 1892 189018911891 until 1895 (in 1895 Hortense would have been 45 years old) Hortense Fiquet, in her Paris apartment.Credit…Courtesy Philippe Cézanne
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36 Portraits of Marie-Hortense Fiquet
Cezanne painted 29 portraits and made countless drawings of Hortense Fiquet. He drew and painted his mistress in graphite, watercolor, and oil. The first painting exists only in a photograph, and the second was of Fiquet nursing their baby.
Fiquet and Cezanne met in Paris sometime around 1869. Cezanne was a 30 year old painter living on a small allowance from his wealthy banker father, and Fiquet was a 19 year old bookbinder with a side gig as an artist’s model. Hortense started modeling for Cezanne at least starting at age 22. She continued to be his muse for more than 20 years, 17 of which was before their marriage, as Cezanne attempted to hide knowledge of her and their son from his father, for fear that his father would cut his allowance. Despite the secrecy, and even before their marriage, the Parisian Hortense Fiquet came to be known as “Madame Cezanne.”
It is difficult to place the portraits in chronological order because the artist tended to rework his portraits over long periods of time. I did find some dates, however, and though there were a few conflicts in the information, I was able to pull together an approximate timeline. It was noted that in the earlier paintings Hortense looks somewhat self-consciously away, but by the mid-1880s she is unabashedly staring at the artist.
Below is a selection of Cezanne’s portraits of his greatest muse Hortense Fiquet.
(in 1895 Hortense would have been 45 years old)
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