Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) was the most celebrated and well connected European woman painter of her time. Before she was 20, she was studying with Corot. Her first submissions to the French Academy salon were exhibited when she was 23. A friend of Edouard Manet, she was the model for his great painting, "Le Balcon" and "Le Repos." Within a decade she was most prominent among the artists who become known as Impressionists and remain one of the most steadfast members of that loosely constituted group.