Édouard ManetFrench, 1832–1883A Matador
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
New York, United States
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
The Matador Saluting (French - Le Matador saluant ) is an oil-on-canvas painting produced by Édouard Manet between 1866 and 1867. Its precise date is unclear – Charles S. Moffett dates the first definite reference to the work to 1867, at an exhibition devoted to Manet's works at the pavillon de l'Alma.
Étienne Moreau-Nélaton and Adolphe Tabarant agree that Manet's brother Eugène was the model for the work. It was one of the works by Manet which were refused by the Paris Salon of 1866. The prefect allowed the artist to exhibit these works in his studio instead so long as he did not open the doors to the studio too wide. It shows a matador or torero receiving the crowd's applause after killing a bull, though the work's first buyer Théodore Duret instead argued that it shows a matador asking the crowd's permission to kill the bull.
Read on
Unlike the fantasy of Miss V Dressed as a Bullfighter, The Matador Saluting was produced after the artist's 1865 trip to Spain and shows his admiration for the country and its art. Charles S. Moffet argues that the work shows the inspiration Manet drew from the compositions and palette of Diego Velázquez and Francisco de Zurbarán. It was Manet's first large format work. Louisine Havemeyer hesitated before buying the work from Duret, fearing the painting's size would not be convenient for her husband, but eventually decided to buy it after Mary Cassatt affirmed that "It was exactly the format Manet wanted". In fact, Henry Osborne Havemeyer became obsessed with large format works and also bought Young Man Dressed as a Majo, another work from the artist's Spanish period. The two works were left to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1929. Miss V Dressed as a Bullfighter is also there.
Particulars
- Accession number
- 29.100.52
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Open Access (CC0)
Meanwhile, in the life of Édouard Manet
The whole life1865
“Olympia” at the Salon: a scandal
In 1865 the Salon accepted “Olympia”, and the frank depiction of a self-assured prostitute created a scandal; according to Antonin Proust, only the precautions taken by the administration prevented the painting from being punctured and torn. The popular press caricatured it, while the avant-garde, including Courbet, Cézanne and Monet, championed it.
after 1865
Café Guerbois and the Batignolles group
After returning from Spain Manet became a regular at the Café Guerbois in the Batignolles quarter, where Fantin-Latour, Whistler, Duranty, Degas, Renoir, Monet and Pissarro gathered, with Émile Zola as Manet's ardent defender. After harsh reproaches from Duranty, Manet challenged him to a duel and wounded him, but they made up and remained good friends until Manet's death.
1865
Flight to Spain: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya
The persecution after “Olympia” forced Manet to flee, almost literally, to Spain, where he spent his time to good purpose, getting to know the works of El Greco, Velázquez and Goya and finding in them a justification of his own aesthetic taste.
1867
His own pavilion near the Pont de l'Alma
In 1867, during the World's Fair in Paris, Manet set up his own pavilion near the Pont de l'Alma and showed fifty of his best works of the past ten years. Possibly this step led to his works being accepted at the next two Salons.
1867
Zola defends Manet in print
In 1867 Émile Zola, who supported Manet publicly in the press, wrote that the public was not accustomed to such simple and direct translations of reality and that this luminous and serious painting interprets nature with a gentle brutality.
1868
Friendship with Berthe Morisot
In 1868 Manet became a friend and colleague of Berthe Morisot; she is credited with convincing him to attempt plein air painting, to which Camille Corot had introduced her. Through Morisot, Manet became friends with Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Cézanne and Pissarro.
