9781422285381

14

(Mary Evans Picture Library)

 ABOVE:  A painting of Camille by Renoir: Madame Monet lying on a sofa.

later became his wife and the mother of his two sons. It was his painting Camille , also known as The Woman in the Green Dress (La femme a la Robe Verte) , in 1866, that was to bring his first real public recognition. Camille went on to pose for many of Monet’s works – some where she is clearly recognizable and attributed, and other paintings where it is suspected that the woman figure in the paintings is her. Camille was certainly the figures for Women in the Garden , c. 1866 (where Monet copied the fashionable dresses of the day from magazines because he could not afford to clothe Camille in the

actual costumes). She also posed for On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt , two years later. Camille and Monet celebrated the birth of their first son, Jean, in 1867. The couple fled to London, England, in September 1870 to escape the Franco-Prussian War that broke out on July 19 that same year. (Monet and Camille married in a civil ceremony on June 28, 1870.) In London, Monet became familiar with the works of William Turner and John Constable. Their landscapes would inspire the young Frenchman in his own innovations with color. However, in 1871, his works were rejected by the Royal