Portrait of edouard manet
(decreased at the bottom and on the right side)
this pastel was published for the first time in 1904 by henri frantz in the magazine the studio; the critic then does not fail to describe it as a “capital” work. If he praises its graphic style, he also tells us that the portrait only recently returned to bracquemond's hands, after a journey that was surprising to say the least: "this last work, which shows us a manet of around thirty years old, with deep eyes, delicate features framed by a blond beard, has undergone quite strange vicissitudes. Its author had even completely lost sight of it when, a few months ago, a collector, friend of bracquemond, saw this work in a public sale, bought it and offered it to the master on the occasion of new year's day. ". For jean-paul bouillon, who published the rediscovery in 1975, these "few months" take us back to the year 1903, bracquemond having regained possession of his pastel on january 1, 1904, perhaps through baron vitta. Accompanied by a small-format black and white reproduction, frantz's article further reveals that this pastel has been partially reduced, by amputating the bouquet of flowers on the right and removing the lower part, rendering somewhat enigmatic what remains of manet's top hat, the top and broad brim of the lower left foreground. The work then reappears twice. During the important bracquemond retrospective presented at the salon de la société nationale des beaux-arts in 1907 (cat. No. 13), with the title "portrait of manet (study)", and again in 1927, with the same title, during the retrospective organized in may and june at the palais des beaux-arts de la ville de paris (cat. No. 4). Two photographs taken in bracquemond's studio around 1913 show, alongside other clearly identifiable works, manet's portrait in its original state, in the middle of the room, placed on an easel. Behind bracquemond, holding in his hand the canes which were then necessary for him to walk, we see on the right the manet, conforming to the photograph published by frantz in 1904. It would have been after the war, shortly before marie's retrospective at the bernheim-jeune gallery, that the pastel would have been modified by his son pierre, who undoubtedly judged the overly sketched nature of the lower part to be detrimental. Manet and bracquemond have known each other since 1861, they shared the chairs of the société des aquafortistes in 1862, then the salon des refusés the following year. Bracquemond produced several engravings based on the works of manet, and the latter in turn engraved a small portrait of his fellow student. The two missing pieces of the pastel, still preserved in 2024 in private hands, were published by jean-paul bouillon, who digitally reconstructed the pastel: bouillon 2020, p. 9-10. Object Type: pastel. Genre: portrait. Date: 1864. Dimensions: height: 62.5 cm (24.6 in) ; width: 47 cm (18.5 in). Medium: pastel. Depicted People: Édouard Manet. Portrait of Édouard Manet, 1864, by Felix Bracquemond
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