Boy Carrying a Sword is an 1861 oil painting by the French artist Édouard Manet and is now displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work depicts a small boy costumed as a page of the Spanish court of the seventeenth century; he is holding a full-sized sword and sword belt. The work was later reproduced as an etching under the direction of Dijon painter and etcher Alphonse Legros who collaborated in the work.[1]
| Boy Carrying a Sword | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Édouard Manet |
| Year | 1861 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 131.1 cm × 93.3 cm (51.6 in × 36.7 in) |
| Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
According to Émile Zola, the work is typical of the influence of Spanish painters[2] and shows the strong influence Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals had on Manet at the time.
The artist's model was Leon Leenhoff, the stepson of the artist after his marriage to Suzanne in 1862. Some report that Leon might have been Manet's actual son with Suzanne. Some other report that the father could have been Manet's own father, Auguste.[3][4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Manet Graveur, Œuvres par ordre chronologique, L'Enfant à l'épée, 1862" (in French). Institut National de l'Histoire de l'Art. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
- ^ Émile Zola (1867). Edouard Manet. Étude biographique et critique (in French). Cahiers naturalistes. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
- ^ "Manet, Vermeer, Valesquez and the boy in "The Luncheon"". leslieparke.com. 2023-03-02. Archived from the original on 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
And might these two people be standing in for Leon's real parents -- Suzanne as the maid (as she was the piano teacher) and Manet's father as the man.
- ^ "The Mystery of Leon, Édouard Manet's Son". bonjourparis.com. 2018-09-04. Archived from the original on 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
The respected art critic Waldemar Januszcak believed that not only was Auguste the real father of Leon, but was also the influence behind Manet's most iconic painting, Déjeuner sur L'Herbe. This was the painting that scandalized Paris in 1863: the brazen nude lolling outdoors in a park between two fully clothed gentlemen.
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