.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Manet never received during his career a single commission for a portrait. The sitter for the present work, Emil-Charles-Julien de la Rochenoire, was a close friend of Manet's and a painter in his own right who specialized in the depiction of animals. Manet's sitters were often friends willing to pose as a favor, or willing to lend their spouse or child for the afternoon. Appearing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the Exposition posthume Manet in January 1884 (following Manet's death in April 1883), the present work was simply titled Portrait.
Chiefly recognized as a great painter, his finest productions in his later years consist of small still-lifes and portraits in oils or pastel. He preferred to make portraits of his numerous visitors in pastel because the medium was easier and quicker to work in than oil. Likewise he frequently turned to pastels often in his later years when his illness made it difficult for him to undertake larger works. Many of his sitters came to Manet's studio because the artist was no longer able to join his friends at the cafés.
Unlike Manet's famous portrait of Emile Zola, the painting of La Rochenoire does not depict the tools and accoutrements of the artist or any indication that he is anyone but an ordinary man. Although his name is aristocratic, he is portrayed as a thoroughly Baudelairian modern man dressed in the black suit associated with cosmopolitan anonymity. As recounted by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1924, the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro once exclaimed that "Manet was greater than us; he was able to make light out of black". La Rochenoire's rosy face appears friendly and warm, yet passive and disinterested; his languid eyes turn away from the viewer. The sketchy background belies the fact that Manet carefully constructed each of his works and left nothing unfinished to his taste. The airiness lends itself to nature and the heightened pastels in colors of blue and pink mimic foliage energizing the face drawn in warm tones. One comes away with the impression that Manet strove not for an illusionistic portrait of his friend but a study of light and dark, highlight and shadow.
Chiefly recognized as a great painter, his finest productions in his later years consist of small still-lifes and portraits in oils or pastel. He preferred to make portraits of his numerous visitors in pastel because the medium was easier and quicker to work in than oil. Likewise he frequently turned to pastels often in his later years when his illness made it difficult for him to undertake larger works. Many of his sitters came to Manet's studio because the artist was no longer able to join his friends at the cafés.
Unlike Manet's famous portrait of Emile Zola, the painting of La Rochenoire does not depict the tools and accoutrements of the artist or any indication that he is anyone but an ordinary man. Although his name is aristocratic, he is portrayed as a thoroughly Baudelairian modern man dressed in the black suit associated with cosmopolitan anonymity. As recounted by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1924, the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro once exclaimed that "Manet was greater than us; he was able to make light out of black". La Rochenoire's rosy face appears friendly and warm, yet passive and disinterested; his languid eyes turn away from the viewer. The sketchy background belies the fact that Manet carefully constructed each of his works and left nothing unfinished to his taste. The airiness lends itself to nature and the heightened pastels in colors of blue and pink mimic foliage energizing the face drawn in warm tones. One comes away with the impression that Manet strove not for an illusionistic portrait of his friend but a study of light and dark, highlight and shadow.