The Little Cavaliers
Artist
Édouard Manet
(French, 1832-1883)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1860
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions18 x 29 3/4 in. (45.7 x 75.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 28 3/4 × 40 1/4 × 3 in. (73 × 102.2 × 7.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 28 3/4 × 40 1/4 × 3 in. (73 × 102.2 × 7.6 cm)
InscribedSigned lower right: "Manet d'après Velasquez"
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.679
Not on view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It depicts thirteen cavaliers gathered in a field. It is done after Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo's _Gathering of Gentlemen_ (formerly Velázquez's _Gathering of Portraits_), currently in the Louvre. The thirteen well dressed cavaliers are in two side groupings, and one center grouping of seven. They all face different directions, five of them have their backs to the viewer, and ten have their heads at the same level. They wear long leather boots, coats and swords along with the hats with feathers. They all appear to be engaged in conversation with each other.Label TextEdouard Manet French, 1832–1883 The Little Cavaliers, ca. 1860 Oil on canvas Like many French artists, Edouard Manet honed his skills by copying artworks in the Louvre. He was especially attracted to the inventive brushwork, bright clarity, strong tonal contrasts, and clear outlines that he found in works by the 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. The Little Cavaliers is Manet’s version of a painting once thought to be by the Spanish master (see illustration). Consider how Manet uses his work to align himself with Velázquez, and perhaps to outdo him. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.679 ProvenanceThe artist, ca. 1859-1878; purchased from the artist by Jean-Baptiste Faure, Paris, 1878; Comtesse de Béarn, Paris, 1908; Tryggve Sagen, Oslo, 1922; Paul Guillaume, Paris; Bignou Gallery, New York; private collection, Philadelphia; sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, Jan. 15, 1949 (cat. no. 62); Reid and Lefevre, London; D.W. Cargill, 1949; sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, April 22, 1954, (cat. no. 81); Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition History"Tableaux de M. Edouard Manet," Avenue de l'Alma, Paris, France, May 22, 1867. "Exposition de 24 Tableaux et Acquarelles par Manet formant la Collection Faure," Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, March 1 - 17, 1906. (Exhib. cat. no. 5). "Föreningen Fransk Konst," Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1922. (Exhib. cat. no. 3). "12 Masterpieces by XIXth Century French Painters," Bignou Gallery, 1943. (Exhib. cat. no. 9). "Manet," Wildenstein and Co., New York, Feb. 26 - April 3, 1948. (Exhib. cat. no. 2). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 18). "French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, N.C., May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Ala., Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. (Exhib. cat. no. 31). "Spain, Espagne, Spanien: Foreign Artists Discover Spain, 1800-1900," organized by The Spanish Institute, The Equitable Gallery, New York, N.Y., July 2 - September 18, 1993. (Exhib. cat. no. 30). "The French Taste for Spanish Painting," Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, Sept. 2002 - Jan. 2003; Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y., Feb. 24 - June 8, 2003. "Manet at the Prado," Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain, October 13, 2003 - Feburary 8, 2004. "Inspiring Impressionism," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, October 16, 2007 - January 13, 2008; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, February 23 - May 25, 2008; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, June 19 - September 21, 2008. "Robert Henri and Spain, Face to Face," Mississippi Museum of Art, Jacksonville, MS, September 27, 2014 - January 4, 2015. "Americans in Spain: Painting and Travel 1820-1920," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, February 12 - May 16, 2021; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, June 11 - October 3, 2021. Manet and Astruc: Friendship and Inspiration, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen GERMANY Oct 23 2021 - Feb 27 2022 Published ReferencesEric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1978, no. 18. * See for further references. Exhibition Catalog. _Manet 1832-1883_. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art : Abrams. 1983. pp. 120-121, 506. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 31. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, Cat. No. 85, 108. Suzanne L. Stratton. _Spain, Espagne, Spanien: Foreign Artists Discover Spain, 1800-1900_. NY: The Equitable Gallery in association with The Spanish Institute, 1993, Cat. No. 30, 117, b/w ill. Carol Armstrong, _Manet Manette_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 29, 382. Geneviève Lacambre and Gary Tinterow, _Manet Velázquez: La manière espagnole au XIXe siècle_, exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 2002, 235, fig. 136. Gary Tinterow and Geneviève Lacambre, with Deborah L. Roldán and Juliet Wilson-Bareau, _Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting_, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Ny., 2003, 78, 206-208, 483-484. Francisco Calvo Serraller, _Manet_ (Madrid, Spain: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2003), 14-15. Manuela B. Mena Marqués, _Manet en el Prado_, exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain, 2003, 140-142, no. 17. _Great Masters of Impressionism: Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Their Friends from the Pola Museum of Art_, exh. cat., Pola Museum of Art, Sengokuhara, Japan, 2005, 49, fig. 4. John Elderfield, _Manet and the Execution of Maximilian_, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 2006/2007, 78 &79, plate 32. Alexander Nehamas, _Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art_ (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007), 135 fig. 79. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 39, fig. 33. _Inspiring Impressionism, A Book of Postcards_ (Petaluma, CA,: Pomegranate Communications, Inc. 2007). Xavier Bray, et. al., _Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past_, exh. cat., Denver Art Museum, Colorado, 2007, 29, illus.48. Bridget Alsdorf, _Fellow Men: Fantin-Latour and the Problem of the Group in Nineteenth-Century French Painting_ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013) 61. Francisco Calvo Serraller, and others, _Del Realismo al Impresionismo_ (Madrid: Fundacion Amigos del Museo del Prado, 2014) IX. Gloria Groom (editor), _Manet Paintings and Works on Paper at the Art Institute of Chicago_, (Art Institute of Chicago: Chicago, 2019), fig. 10-11.12
