A biography, memoir and detective story, this is an account of the life of Victorine Meurent, Edouard Manet's favourite model. Her defiant gaze from the canvas of such famous - and scandalous - paintings as "Olympia" and "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" provoked a riot. But was she, as her contemporaries testified, simply a drunkard and a courtesan? Or was she an accomplished artist in her own right? Eunice Lipton's narrative aims to recreate Victorine Meurent in every particular. Drawing on numerous sources, she interweaves this account with the story of the life, career and background that shaped her own responses to Victorine; coming face to face with her own obsessions, fears and desires. She is also the author of studies of Degas and Picasso.