Jo, La Belle Irlandaise by Gustave Courbet (1865-66)

She draws one hand through a mass of copper hair and turns to a small mirror held in the other — unhurried, absorbed, entirely unaware of us. Courbet gave the picture her nationality for a title: la belle Irlandaise, the beautiful Irishwoman.

He painted her at Trouville on the Normandy coast in the autumn of 1865, while Whistler — her companion, and the painter she had sat for in The White Girl — worked on seascapes beside him. Courbet liked the image enough to paint it four times.

About this work

Jo, la belle Irlandaise was painted by the French artist Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) in 1865–66. It shows Joanna Hiffernan, the Irish model best known as James McNeill Whistler's muse, holding a hand mirror as she runs her fingers through her hair. Courbet made four versions: one is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (oil on canvas, 55.9 × 66 cm, H. O. Havemeyer Collection), and others are in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. This print is an open edition, made to order and shipped worldwide.

Sizes & Format

• 20 × 25 cm / 8 × 10″ · 40 × 50 cm / 16 × 20″ · 60 × 80 cm / 24 × 32″
• Unframed in every size; framed in black, white or wood at 20 × 25 cm and 40 × 50 cm

Print & Frame Details

Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.

Free Worldwide Shipping

Framed prints are packed with protective corners and wrap, boxed with reinforced edges, and braced with internal supports for extra rigidity (max 3 frames per package). Every order ships free, made to order and delivered from the hub closest to you: Ireland 3–7 business days · UK 4–8 · USA 5–10 · Canada 6–12 · Australia 7–14.