Manet Red Chalk Drawing Attributed by Emily Beeny
A previously unknown red chalk drawing by Édouard Manet has been identified in a private Italian collection, revealing new insights into his preparatory
Art historian Emily Beeny has attributed a red chalk drawing of a crouching child in a private Italian collection to Édouard Manet. The attribution is based on stylistic analysis and UV evidence of the artist's faded studio stamp.
Emily Beeny, chief curator of the Legion of Honor at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, is a specialist in French paintings and drawings from the 17th to 19th centuries. The drawing was discovered by Francesco Baccanelli, a specialist in 17th- and 18th-century paintings and prints from Lombardy and Veneto. He saw the work in a small northern Italian collection and sent a photograph to Beeny. UV analysis later confirmed the presence of Manet's studio stamp in the lower right-hand corner. The drawing has never been studied prior to this attribution.
Provenance and early history
The drawing's early history is unclear. It was sold twice in the 1930s, first in Germany and then in Switzerland. No scholarly publications documented these sales. Its original purpose and the path it took before arriving in the Italian collection remain mysterious, as noted by the authors preparing the study.
Subject and artistic context
The drawing measures 20.5cm by 17.5cm and was squared for transfer to a canvas, though no known composition by Manet matches it. It is characteristic of Manet's red chalk life studies from the 1850s and 1860s, a period influenced by Renaissance draughtsmanship in Florence. Manet made scores of similar preparatory sketches in the mid-nineteenth century.
The crouching child may depict Alexandre, a youth hired by Manet in the late 1850s, though the figure appears to be a little girl aged around six. The child is believed to be the same figure as a street urchin in Manet's 1863 painting Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass).
Scholarly impact and future steps
Emily Beeny and Francesco Baccanelli will publish an article about the drawing in the October issue of the Burlington Magazine. Beeny stated she hoped the drawing would be included in the next edition of the Manet catalogue raisonné by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute.
Beeny told a newspaper that while many people send her items they imagine might be by Manet, this was the only one to give her an immediate sense of recognition. She noted it had definitely been many years since the last unpublished drawing by Manet was discovered. The drawing is set to be published in the October issue of the Burlington Magazine.
