Édouard Manet

Édouard Manet (1832–1883) is best known for his pictures inspired by contemporary life which capture brilliantly the evanescent effects of light and color. However, unlike his friends Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Manet never exhibited in the Impressionist exhibitions and continued to submit to the official Salons instead. Born in Paris as the son of a prominent civil servant, Manet studied for six years with the academic painter Thomas Couture (1815-1879). Manet was a deeply respectful observer of Renaissance and Baroque art, and knew well the masterpieces installed at the Louvre; he also made several trips to Italy, the Netherlands and Germany and later, Spain. He had particular admiration for the work of Titian (1490-1576) who was believed to have presented a similar pair of paintings to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain (a Venus and Christ Crowned with Thorns). He created his only other major biblical work in 1864 (Dead Christ with Angels, now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York). The pair of Olympia and Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers evoked outrage among critics and the public at the 1865 Salon. The former work was scorned as a half-pornographic depiction of a prostitute, and Jesus Mocked itself was mocked as insufficiently devotional. The Salon needed to hire guards to protect the works against vandalism.