This portrait of the artist’s mother, Eugénie-Désirée Fournier Manet (1811-1885), shows her in the widow’s black mourning dress she donned after her husband’s death. The brushwork throughout the painting is beautifully bold, displaying confidence and dynamism that speaks to quick work that was not always typical of Manet. 
Archival evidence suggests the artist started this painting in the years following his extended 1863 wedding trip to the Netherlands. The pose and depiction of a powerful older woman in black recall Dutch portraiture. 
Gardner was long interested in acquiring a portrait by Manet, and through her advisor Bernard Berenson purchased this work in 1910. Berenson called it "a colossal thing" and suggested Gardner hang it alongside her portraits by Pollaiuolo and Degas, to create a "trinity of great paintings that are tremendous character studies as well."