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Notes
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Maria Maddalena Balletti, known as Manon Balletti, was the daughter of Antonio Giuseppe Balletti, an actor in the Comédie Italienne. Her brother Stefano, also an actor, was friends with the Venetian adventurer and author Giacomo Casanova, who declared his love for Manon. She broke off her existing engagement to her music teacher for Casanova, but after a three-year on-off courtship gave up waiting for marriage and wed M. Blondel, the king’s architect, in 1760. Casanova knew Nattier and may have commissioned this pastel portrait of Manon. She wears two violas in her hair or attached to her veil. In the language of flowers violas or pansies mean ‘thoughts of the beloved’. The rose she wears on her breast is associated with love. It may also refer to Manon’s mother, who was called Rosa.
Title
Manon Balletti
Date
1757
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 54 x W 47.5 cm
Accession number
NG5586
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by Emilie Yznaga, 1945
Work type
Painting