Alice Brisbane

Overview

Alice Brisbane was a young North American woman of about eighteen years old in 1880, who posed for Marie Bashkirtseff at the Académie Julian studio in Paris and became a brief social companion. She later married Charles Thursby, and in that married name was painted by John Singer Sargent. She is not related to the Brisbane mentioned elsewhere in the glossary as a male model and atelier companion.

Relevance to Marie

Marie first engaged Alice Brisbane as a model for a new painting in late April 1880. She appears in the diary as "my little American" (ma petite Américaine). Marie was charmed by her Recamier-like appearance — thin, luminous, eighteen years old — and dressed her in a batiste chemise with Psyche-style upswept hair. Alice appears in Marie's painting The Studio of Women (L'Atelier de femmes), seated in the foreground preparing her palette. The friendship was brief: Alice's American frankness eventually irritated Marie, and she gradually withdrew from the circle.

References in Diary

• 1880-04-27: First sitting; Marie describes her Recamier likeness and the batiste costume.
• 1880-04-30: Named "Alice Brisbane" explicitly; accompanies Marie to the Salon.

Sources

Maria1884 blog: El atelier de mujeres. Personajes I. Alice Brisbane