March 29: On This Day in Art History

On this day in art history, March 29, Madeleine Knobloch's artist-lover died in Paris. She was born in 1868, and was a working class woman and artist's model. Her artist-lover was, at 31, nearly a decade older.

He did not reveal their relationship to his family, only his very closest friends knew about her. He worked on this lovely portrait of her between 1888-1890. When she was 21, she became pregnant.

Their baby boy, Pierre-Georges, was born on February 16, 1890. A little over a year later, she was expecting their second baby, when on March 29, 1891, the artist died at age 31. His death has been variously attributed to meningitis, pneumonia, infectious angina or diphtheria. Their toddler also died from the same disease a few weeks later, and the baby Madeleine was carrying at that time died at birth or shortly after.

There is very little else known about Madeleine, and how, at age 22, she managed after the deaths of her three loved ones within such a short time. However, there are many books devoted to her lover, Georges Seurat. His most famous piece is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, in the collection of the Chicago Institute of Art.