Carolus-Duran | Portrait of Édouard Manet, 1880

Carolus-Duran (1837-1917), a successful society portraitist, painted this informal view of his friend Édouard Manet (1832-1883) at a villa outside of Paris.

Manet was known for his impeccable grooming, but Carolus-Duran portrays him in a moment of ease, flushed by the effects of a warm afternoon, wearing a straw boater pushed back on his forehead.

Carolus Duran | Portrait of Édouard Manet, 1880 | Paris, Musée d'Orsay

Working quickly, he captures Manet’s appearance and mood with broad, summary strokes, painting him “à la Manet”-employing his friend’s loose brushwork rather than his own tighter style. | Source: © RISD Museum of Art

Carolus-Duran | Sketch of Édouard Manet, 1877

Carolus Duran | Portrait of Édouard Manet, 1876 | RISD Museum of Art

Édouard Manet | Portrait of Carolus-Duran, 1876 | The Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Édouard Manet painted this study of the portraitist Emile-Auguste Carolus-Duran (1838-1917) when staying at a patron’s country estate near Paris.

The two artists were old friends and they agreed to paint each other.

Carolus-Duran is shown in riding boots in a nonchalant pose, suggesting that he has just arrived from his nearby home.

Édouard Manet by Nadar, 1864

Manet wrote that there was ‘too much entertainment here to work seriously’ and the portrait is unfinished, especially its rapidly improvised landscape.

The boldly painted figure is resolved enough, however, to understand the impact Manet made as the provocative painter of modern-life subjects. | Source: © The Barber Institute of Fine Arts