Jo, La Belle Irlandaise. Artist: Gustave Courbet (French, Ornans 1819-1877 La Tour-de-Peilz). Dimensions: 22 x 26 in. (55.9 x 66 cm). Date: 1865-66.The "beautiful Irishwoman" depicted in this painting is Joanna Hiffernan (born 1842/43), mistress and model of the artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), and perhaps subsequently Courbet's lover. Although dated 1866, the picture was likely undertaken in 1865, when the two men painted together at the French seaside resort of Trouville; Courbet wrote of "the beauty of a superb redhead whose portrait I have begun." He would paint three repetitions with minor variations. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.