Model, Artistic Folk Figure. The piano teacher, mistress, favored model, and wife of the French Impressionist master Edouard Manet, she is remembered as the subject of some of his more noted images. Though little is recorded of her early life, she was an accomplished musician who in 1851 was hired by Auguste Manet as a piano instructor for Edouard and his siblings. In 1852 Suzanne had a baby named Leon, whom Manet was to paint, though which 'Manet' was the father remains a matter of speculation as she was sexually active with both father and son or sons through the years. Suzanne posed with and without attire for a number of Edouard's paintings with 1861's "The Surprised Nymph" a major hit, but the romantic relationship was kept fairly discrete until Auguste's death left the pair free to marry. In 1863 Manet produced one of his more controversial pieces entitled "The Luncheon on the Grass" which was derided as 'pornographic' due to its depiction of a naked girl with two clothed men. The girl is a composite of Victorine Meurent's head imposed on Suzanne's slightly plumper body, the two men are one of Edouard's brothers and one of Suzanne's, and the picture, tame by the standards of a later era, has been on display at Paris' Musee d'Orsay for many years. Around 1868 Suzanne and Manet were painted together by Manet's friend Edgar Degas though the work was subsequently vandalized, probably by Manet, for reasons unknown; Degas reclaimed the painting and for many years expressed his intention to repair it though he never did so. Manet had a rather poor concept of fidelity and owing to syphilis was to suffer both physical and psychiatric problems as time went on but the couple remained together, with Suzanne continuing to appear on canvas, until death did them part. Suzanne resided in Paris following her husband's demise and today can be seen in a number of major museums.