Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Impressionism
and Modern Art A celebrity in her day, Émilie Ambre (1854-1898)
came from a wealthy North African family and was the mistress of
King William III of the Netherlands prior to pursuing a career
as an opera singer. Manet met Ambre in the summer of 1879 at a
spa outside Paris where he was seeking treatment for a
reoccurring leg ailment. In Manet's portrait, the singer appears
in Spanish costume as Carmen, the tragic gypsy heroine of
Georges Bizet's opera. A popular story set in Seville, and
filled with bullfighters, smugglers, and dancers, Carmen was
nevertheless controversial because its heroine was not a pure or
chaste woman but one who led her unsuspecting lover into a life
of crime and was murdered by him. With her dark features and
celebrated past, Ambre was well suited for the part of Carmen, a
role she played on tours in the United States in 1879 and 1880.
The harsh side lighting in the portrait suggests the stage,
although the painting, with