Édouard Manet

Bineteux Collection, Paris
Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired by 1906)
Frank Gair Macomber, Boston (acquired by 1907)
Mrs C.F. Lyman, Dover
Mrs J. Hampden Robb, Beverley Farms (sale: Parke Bernet, New York, 11th May 1955, lot 84)
E. Somlo
Knoedler Gallery, New York
Sale: Galliera, Paris, 9th December 1968, lot 62
Sale: Georges V, Paris, 10th June 1969, lot 78
Sale: Galliera, Paris, 22nd June 1970, lot 63
Private Collection, Rome
Tornabuoni Arte, Florence
Acquired from the above by the present owners in 2000

New York, Durand-Ruel Gallery, Paintings by Ed. Manet, 1913, no. 1
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Manet, 1923
New York, Wildenstein Gallery, Manet, 1948, no. 3

Julius Meier-Graefe, Edouard Manet, Munich, 1912, illustrated pl. 7
Paul Jamot & Georges Wildenstein, Manet, Paris, 1932, no. 22, illustrated fig. 3
Michel Florisoone, Manet, Monaco, 1947, p. XV
Adolphe Tabarant, Manet et ses œuvres, Paris, 1947, no. 5, p. 19 
George Heard Hamilton, Manet and his Critics, Yale, 1954, p. 163
Theodore Reff, 'Copyists in the Louvre, 1850-1870' in Art Bulletin, no. XLVI, December 1964, p. 556
Denis Rouart & Sandra Orienti, Tout l'œuvre peint d'Edouard Manet, Paris, 1970, no. 15, illustrated p. 88
Denis Rouart & Daniel Wildenstein, Edouard Manet Catalogue raisonné, Geneva, 1975, vol. I, no. 17, illustrated p. 39
Robert Rey, Manet, London, 1979, illustrated pl. 92
Françoise Cachin, Manet, New York, 1990, no. 13, illustrated p. 148

The canvas is lined. There is a thick milky varnish preventing UV light from fully penetrating, however, UV examination reveals three fine lines of retouching to the sitters face (each approx. 3cm long) and the M of the signature has been strengthened. There are some further minor scattered spots of retouching in places and some very old retouching to the background, away from the figure. There is some light frame rubbing along the edges and scattered fine lines of stable craquelure. There are a few pin holes to the sitter's proper right hand. This work is in overall good condition and would benefit from a light clean.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Instantly arresting in its subject matter and composition, Le Buveur d’absinthe is a fascinating and rare example of Edouard Manet’s early works. Painted in 1858, five years before the artist’s celebrated Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, the present work offers an intriguing insight into Manet’s working practices as he embarked on his artistic career. During the time he spent studying at the studio of the renowned Thomas Couture between 1850 and 1856, Manet registered as a copyist at the Louvre, and frequently made copies of paintings housed within this venerable institution. The artist found constant inspiration for his own work in the paintings of Dutch, Italian and Spanish Old Masters, as Alan Krell notes: ‘These exchanges with the art of the past would soon have important repercussions for his own paintings of contemporary themes’ (Alan Krell, Manet, London, 1996, p. 23).

The source for Le Buveur d’absinthe was the Dutch painter Joos van Craesbeeck’s (circa 1606 – circa 1654-62) Le Fumeur (portrait de l’artiste?), formerly attributed to Adrian Brouwer and housed in the Musée du Louvre as a bequest from Dr Louis La Caze in 1869. A characterful and humorous study of the effects of excessive smoking and drinking, Manet was struck by this image and through choosing to depict it, he considered the message to be as pertinent in nineteenth-century Paris as it was in seventeenth-century Holland. Manet, however, transformed the generic alcoholic bottle featured in the original work into absinthe, a potent drink which had become intimately associated with the often poverty stricken conditions of bohemian artists, writers and poets who frequented Paris during this period. Imbued with his own distinctive tone and interpretive flair, Le Buveur d’absinthe arguably serves as a harbinger of Manet’s later masterpieces.