How Much Is The Artist's Daughter with a Parakeet Worth?

Berthe Morisot’s portraits of Julie Manet are central to her late oeuvre and are much studied by curators and scholars for their intimate domestic focus and refined brushwork. A study titled The Artist’s Daughter with a Parakeet (1890) connects to a small but important group of works in which Morisot explored child portraiture and interior life—subjects that carry cultural and scholarly interest and therefore institutional appeal. The painting’s role as a study related to a larger finished composition increases its academic value because it illuminates Morisot’s working process. This scholarly significance tends to enhance market desirability relative to anonymous studio sketches, supporting a premium when other conditions (provenance, condition) are favorable.

The work’s provenance is a major value contributor: retained by the sitter Julie Manet into the 20th century, handled by Galerie Jacques Dubourg, acquired by prominent collector Chester Dale and bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art. Such a traceable chain reduces attribution and title risk and signals institutional stewardship, often translating to stronger bidder confidence in the market. If the NGA painting has been published or included in exhibition catalogues and/or the standard catalogue raisonné, those citations would materially increase realized prices. Conversely, gaps in publication or exhibition history would cap buyer enthusiasm and limit outcomes.

At approximately 65.6 × 52.1 cm (oil on canvas), this work sits between an intimate study and a moderate portrait size. The market differentiates between highly finished canvases and looser studies; studies routinely sell at a discount to larger, fully realized portraits. Equally crucial is conservation state: stable ground and original surface support higher values, while heavy relining, extensive inpainting or structural damage reduce realizations significantly. A modern condition and technical report (X‑ray/IRR/pigment analysis) is required to refine the estimate; condition findings commonly shift the midpoint by 20–50%.

Direct auction comparables anchor the valuation. The most relevant market test is Christie’s Paris (23 Oct 2025), where a larger, closely related Julie Manet with parakeet realized ≈€1.08M (~$1.25M). Day‑sale finished oils and other late‑19th‑century Morisot portraits in 2024–2025 sold in the mid‑six‑figure to low‑seven‑figure band, while the artist’s trophy record (Après le déjeuner, 2013) sets a high market ceiling but is not a direct subject match. These outcomes indicate the NGA study should trade below the larger, finished composition but comfortably above studio drawings, supporting the $800k–$2M window.

Demand for women Impressionists has strengthened and Morisot benefits from increased institutional programming and scholarship. Supply of high‑quality Morisot oils is limited, and well‑provenanced portraits of Julie Manet are relatively rare—this scarcity supports stronger results when museum‑quality works appear. However, buyers are selective and prioritize condition, provenance and freshness to market; a well‑documented, exhibition-ready canvas will outperform a poorly documented or restored example. Timing and specialist sale strategy are therefore important to capture optimal demand.