Manet's Amazon

Snow, ice and poor visibility, for which the British are always unprepared, have caused delay in dispatching this painting by Edouard Manet to the Royal Academy of Arts for its overpriced and uninspiring exhibition Manet: Portraying Life, which opens on Saturday 26 January (CLICK for my preview). So, when the BBC's arts correspondents (two!) and the press dutifully trotted round to view the show, all they saw of this painting was a notice telling them it had been delayed due to "adverse weather conditions" (CLICK). Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I tracked the missing painting to the Museu de Arte de São Paulo in sunny Brazil. And here it is: Manet's The Horsewoman: Portrait of Marie Lefébure (1875). Its alternative title The Amazon comes from the Portuguese: A Amazona - Retrato de Marie Lefébure (CLICK). Horsewomen as Amazons!