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In 1867, a wealthy friend and patron, Louis-Joachim Gaudibert, a shipowner, commissioned Monet to paint three portraits. Two were to be of Gaudibert himself and the third one of his wife.
This full-length portrait of Madame Gaudibert illustrates just how easily Monet was able to turn his hand to official portraiture. The woman's elegant posture lives up to the idealised concept of formal portraiture existing at that time. What was unusual, was the fact that the subject of the portrait had averted her head.
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