M. et Mme Edouard Manet

~In 1860, when sales of carte de visite portraits were soaring thanks to the mass production of views of contemporary celebrities, the Goncourt brothers discussed with the caricaturist Gavarni what the future direction of his portraits should be. Gavarni told them that “he wanted to...

At the Paris Salon of 1882, James Ensor exhibited the canvas now known as Russian Music for the first time outside his native Belgium (fig. 105).See Xavier Tricot, James Ensor, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, vol. 1 (Antwerp: Pandora Ortelius, 1992), 180. Originally titled Chez Miss, his depiction of a light-filled drawing room, a woman playing a piano, and a seated, listening man had drawn little attention the year before when it hung near Jules Bastien-Lepage’s Les Foins at the Triennial Salon in...

~"Everyone knew how to make the portrait of Manet: he was very well known.” “Tout le...

The most significant information revealed by study of the support is the approximate age of the painting and whether the work has survived in complete or fragmentary form. These are crucial questions for anyone interested in a paintings subject matter or history, or in its formal characteristics. Examination of the support can also reveal the painting’s condition and any structural restoration that it has received. This can be essential in determining its authenticity or provenance. …