A picture which has been described as one of the most important paintings of the 19th century is on display at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham.
The gallery is playing host to impressionist giant Edouard Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus, which was painted in 1868.
It has been lent to the University of Birmingham-based gallery by the Ashmolean Museum under the terms of an agreement that allowed the Oxford Museum to acquire the work and prevent it being purchased by a foreign buyer.
It has been displayed alongside the Barber’s own Manet masterpiece, Portrait of Carolus Duran of 1876, which itself has just returned to the city following an absence of more than eight months, when it enjoyed a starring role in landmark exhibitions at the Royal Academy and the National Gallery in London.
Barber director, Nicola Kalinsky, said: “It is a wonderful opportunity to have these two landmark Manet portraits side by side at the Barber in this new and never-before-seen juxtaposition.”
Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus was acquired by the Ashmolean – the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology last August after a campaign to raise nearly £8 million.
The two Manet portraits will hang together in the Blue Gallery until October 21.
