Collection of Claude Monet (1840-1926), Giverny.

Collection of Michel Monet (1878-1966), Giverny, by descent from the above.

Collection of Rolande Verneiges (d. 2006), France, gifted from above, and thence by descent.

Christie's Hong Kong, 26th November 2017, lot 120.

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克勞德．莫內（1840-1926年）收藏，吉維尼

次子米歇爾．莫内（1878-1966年）繼藏，吉維尼

羅朗德．韋爾內熱（2006年卒）收藏，法國（受贈自上述收藏），此後家族傳承

香港佳士得2017年11月26日，編號120

Marcel Guérin, L'Oeuvre Grave de Manet, New York & Amsterdam, 1969, no. 79.

Nathaniel Harris, The Life and Works of Manet, Bath, 1994, no. 80.

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Marcel Guérin，《L'Oeuvre Grave de Manet》，紐約及阿姆斯特丹，1969年，編號79

Nathaniel Harris，《The Life and Works of Manet》，巴斯，1994年，編號80

Édouard Manet (1832-1883), whose artistic approach was initially considered too revolutionary and hence rejected by his peers and critics, is now widely known as the father of modernism. He is famous for his use of Alla prima, a direct painting method in which layers of wet paint are applied successively on still-wet surfaces, moving away from the traditional norms of painting and enriching the vibrancy of the canvases.

Having begun formal art training at the age of eighteen and spending extra time at the Louvre copying canonical paintings, a lot of Manet’s earliest compositional ideas were inspired by Old Masters. In 1856, he opened his own studio, where he produced his early masterpieces, including but not limited to The Absinthe Drinker (1858-59), The Luncheon on the Grass (1863), and Olympia (1863). His bold addition and representation of nude female figures in particular was highly controversy.

Manet was also keen on portraying the general public in his paintings, from Bohemian to working-class and from Bourgeois to upper-class. In a quick and freestyle manner, he captured many café scenes, as well as the mood of 19th century Parisian nightlife, as in The Café-Concert (1878) and Corner of a Café-Concert (1879). He also invited us to look at and understand Paris from new angles in his genre paintings. For instance, in The Railway (1873), he drew our attention to the two female figures located against the iron fence, while only hinted at the presence of a train, supposedly a key element of the scene, using a cloud of steam.

After his health deteriorated in his late forties, Manet shifted his attention to painting small-scale still life paintings of plants, such as A Bundle of Asparagus (1880) and Still Life with Flowers (1880). His final major work A Bar at the Folies-Bergère in 1882 concluded his life as an Impressionist painter.

The present colour lithograph Polichinelle (1876) was created after Manet’s own watercolour with the same title (1874) of the commedia dell’arte character Polichinelle, believed to be a caricature of General MacMahon, the newly elected President of the French Republic who had previously led a bloody execution of the Commune in 1871. Manet attempted to make multiple publications of his print to be distributed through the Republican journal Les Temps, but the publication was halted by the government after just 25 proofs were taken, including this impression. Other than the addition of the baton, which was likely a reference to MacMahon’s “triumph of order,” the poetic inscription by Théodore de Banville at the bottom of the print also suggested MacMahon’s cruelty. In English, it reads:

“Ferocious and red, with fire in his eyes,

Brazen, drunk, charming, that’s Polichinelle.”¹

The satirical tone of the lines served as a perfect complement to the caricature that augmented the politically radicalness of the print, thereby rendering it an important witness of a turbulent time of French history.

¹Brown, Marilyn R. “Manet, Nodier, and ‘Polichinelle.’” Art Journal, vol. 45, no. 1, 1985, pp. 43–48.

Édouard Manet (1832-1883), whose artistic approach was initially considered too revolutionary and hence rejected by his peers and critics, is now widely known as the father of modernism. He is famous for his use of Alla prima, a direct painting method in which layers of wet paint are applied successively on still-wet surfaces, moving away from the traditional norms of painting and enriching the vibrancy of the canvases.

Having begun formal art training at the age of eighteen and spending extra time at the Louvre copying canonical paintings, a lot of Manet’s earliest compositional ideas were inspired by Old Masters. In 1856, he opened his own studio, where he produced his early masterpieces, including but not limited to The Absinthe Drinker (1858-59), The Luncheon on the Grass (1863), and Olympia (1863). His bold addition and representation of nude female figures in particular was highly controversy.

Manet was also keen on portraying the general public in his paintings, from Bohemian to working-class and from Bourgeois to upper-class. In a quick and freestyle manner, he captured many café scenes, as well as the mood of 19th century Parisian nightlife, as in The Café-Concert (1878) and Corner of a Café-Concert (1879). He also invited us to look at and understand Paris from new angles in his genre paintings. For instance, in The Railway (1873), he drew our attention to the two female figures located against the iron fence, while only hinted at the presence of a train, supposedly a key element of the scene, using a cloud of steam.

After his health deteriorated in his late forties, Manet shifted his attention to painting small-scale still life paintings of plants, such as A Bundle of Asparagus (1880) and Still Life with Flowers (1880). His final major work A Bar at the Folies-Bergère in 1882 concluded his life as an Impressionist painter.

The present colour lithograph Polichinelle (1876) was created after Manet’s own watercolour with the same title (1874) of the commedia dell’arte character Polichinelle, believed to be a caricature of General MacMahon, the newly elected President of the French Republic who had previously led a bloody execution of the Commune in 1871. Manet attempted to make multiple publications of his print to be distributed through the Republican journal Les Temps, but the publication was halted by the government after just 25 proofs were taken, including this impression. Other than the addition of the baton, which was likely a reference to MacMahon’s “triumph of order,” the poetic inscription by Théodore de Banville at the bottom of the print also suggested MacMahon’s cruelty. In English, it reads:

“Ferocious and red, with fire in his eyes,

Brazen, drunk, charming, that’s Polichinelle.”¹

The satirical tone of the lines served as a perfect complement to the caricature that augmented the politically radicalness of the print, thereby rendering it an important witness of a turbulent time of French history.

¹Brown, Marilyn R. “Manet, Nodier, and ‘Polichinelle.’” Art Journal, vol. 45, no. 1, 1985, pp. 43–48.