In the glow of the café’s oil lamps, Camille saw that Edouard Manet was a man of broad shoulders,
yet flatly lean through his superb figure and wore near white trousers tightly buttoned about his lean waist. He had what was called a Gallic head, an open and expressive face. His lustrous almost black hair was beginning to recede on both sides of his part. His soft beard and mustache were handsomely groomed.
He was exuberant by nature, using many gestures to amplify his speech. For his social life among the élégants he wore a lavishly cut long black coat but as a sign of independence, a brightly checkered vest and eschewed the traditional bow tie.
To Camille he was most attractive, bold self-assured upper class with penetrating eyes that proclaimed “I know who I am and who I intend to become.” He seemed warm and friendly, did not judge one’s abilities yet favored the few who he thought were exceptional.
His father was a judge of the Tribunal of the Seine, with a background of wealth and position and his mother from the same high stratum. He took pleasure in society and was fond of frequenting salons where he was admired for his verve and flashing with. He told Camille “my parents were solidly against my corrupting the family name, but I am determined to devote my life to painting.
His elegant studio was deceptive. It was not a place to lounge in luxury but to work, which Manet did uninterruptedly from early morning until five in the afternoon when he changed and became a boulevardier leading a succession of beautiful women to bed.
He had fallen in love with and seduced a young Dutch musician, an attractive girl who had been brought into the Manet home to give piano lessons. He had been barely twenty when Suzanne Leenhoff bore him a son called Léon-Edouard Koëlla. Manet registered the boy under an assumed name. For public purposes the child was Suzanne’s young brother. Manet’s father died in 1862 leaving Edouard independently wealthy.
Depths of Glory, A Biographical Novel of Camille Pissarro by Irving Stone p. 188 & 246
Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.
Born into an upper-class household with strong political connections, Manet rejected the future originally envisioned for him, and became engrossed in the world of painting
It was his uncle, Edmond Fournier, who encouraged him to pursue painting and took young Manet to the Louvre After he twice failed the examination to join the Navy, his father relented to his wishes to pursue an art education.
In April 1883, his left foot was amputated because of gangrene, due to complications from syphilis and rheumatism. He died eleven days later on 30 April in Paris. He is buried in the Passy Cemetery in the city.
View all of Edouard Manet’s 233 art works.
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