He was unable to paint while he was serving, and left Paris after the city surrendered at the end of January 1871.

This painting was one of several portraits of a black-clad Morisot by Manet between 1872 and 1874: others show her with a pink shoe, with a fan, and veiled.

The violet flowers are barely perceptible where the neckline of Morisot's dress dips towards her chest.

It was praised by Paul Valéry in the catalogue of Manet's retrospective at the Orangerie in 1932 for the centenary of his birth.

Manet sold or gave the painting to collector and art critic Théodore Duret.

It was acquired for the Musée d'Orsay in 1998, with funding from the Fonds du Patrimoine, the Meyer Foundation, the China Times Group and a sponsorship programme coordinated by the Japanese The Nikkei newspaper.