Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in the Conservatory  1891

Hortense Fiquet, a former artist’s model, met Cézanne about 1869; they had a son in 1872, fourteen years before they married. This painting, one of more than two dozen for which Hortense posed, is set in the conservatory of Jas de Bouffan, the Cézanne family estate near Aix. The unfinished canvas offers a revealing glimpse into Cézanne’s working method. He placed Madame Cé...