Camille Monet in the Garden

Camille Doncieux, captured in this painting, was model, lover and eventually the wife of Claude Monet, whose early paintings of her gave him his first taste of commercial and critical success. When Camille died young after a long illness following the birth of their second child, the woman who replaced her in Monet's life was determined to obliterate her memory. Alice, Monet's second wife, was consumed by jealousy of her departed rival and destroyed all photographic records of Camille. Only one photo is known to have survived. It had been taken in Holland in 1871 and kept in a private collection unknown to Alice.