In 1855 Manet visited the studio of preeminent Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix to request permission to copy his celebrated Barque of Dante (1822). The painting was displayed that year at the Exposition Universelle, although it was usually on view and accessible for study at the Musée du Luxembourg, the public museum for contemporary art. Manet ultimately produced two versions: a more literal copy and this freely executed color study.
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Title:Copy after Delacroix's "Bark of Dante"
Artist:Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
Date:ca. 1859
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:13 x 16 1/8 in. (33 x 41 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number:29.100.114
the artist's widow, Suzanne Manet, Paris (until 1894; sold on October 30, 1894, for Fr 150 to Vollard); [Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1894–95; sold on August 27, 1895, for Fr 350 to Durand-Ruel]; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1895; stock no. 3392; sold on August 27, 1895, for Fr 400 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1895–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, p. 150)
Paris. Galerie Vollard. March 1895, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 80 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 156].
New York. Wildenstein. "Manet," February 26–April 3, 1948, no. 1.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux. "Delacroix, ses maîtres, ses amis, ses élèves," May 17–September 30, 1963, no. 363.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Édouard Manet, 1832–1883," November 3–December 11, 1966, no. 3.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Édouard Manet, 1832–1883," January 13–February 19, 1967, no. 3.
Chapel Hill, N.C. William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center. "French Nineteenth-Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas," March 5–April 16, 1978, no. 47.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet, 1832–1883," September 10–November 27, 1983, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A343.
London. National Gallery. "Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890," November 1, 2000–January 28, 2001, unnumbered cat. (fig. 14).
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890," March 2–May 20, 2001, unnumbered cat. (fig. 14).
Williamstown, Mass. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. "Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890," June 16–September 9, 2001, unnumbered cat. (fig. 14).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 54.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Manet, inventeur du Moderne," April 5–July 17, 2011, no. 2.
Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. "Constable, Delacroix, Friedrich, Goya: Die Erschütterung der Sinne / A Shock to the Senses," March 16–August 4, 2013, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet / Degas," September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024, unnumbered cat. (colorpl. 15).
Camille Mauclair. "Choses d'art." Mercure de France 13 (March 1895), p. 358, notes that it is on view at Vollard's gallery.
Théodore Duret. Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son œuvre. Paris, 1902, p. 192, no. 5.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manuscrit de l'œuvre d'Édouard Manet, peinture et pastels. [1906], unpaginated, no. 10 [Département des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris].
Camille de Sainte-Croix. "Édouard Manet." Portraits d'hier (December 15, 1909), p. 20 [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967], mentions it among copies made at the Louvre, 1856–58.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Édouard Manet. Munich, 1912, pp. 18–19, alludes to it as a work of 1859.
Théodore Duret. Manet and the French Impressionists. 2nd ed. [1st ed. 1910]. London, 1912, p. 221, no. 5.
Antonin Proust. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1913, pp. 23–24, gives an account of Manet's visit to Delacroix for permission to copy "The Bark of Dante" in the Louvre.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manet raconté par lui-même. Paris, 1926, vol. 1, p. 24, fig. 9.
A. Tabarant. "Les Manet de la collection Havemeyer." La Renaissance 13 (February 1930), pp. 58–60, dates it to the end of 1854 or the beginning of 1855, regarding it as earlier than the copy in Lyons [RW4]; notes that Mme Manet's account book records the sale of the painting to Vollard on October 30, 1894 for Fr 150.
A. Tabarant. Manet, histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931, pp. 31–32, no. 8, decides that the Lyons copy [RW4] was painted before this work.
Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. Paris, 1932, vol. 1, pp. 20, 74, 114, no. 1; vol. 2, fig. 485, date it 1854.
Paul Colin. Édouard Manet. Paris, 1932, pp. 16–17, 73, dates it about 1855 and lists it as the second copy of the Delacroix.
Beaumont Newhall. "After Delacroix." American Magazine of Art 29 (September 1936), p. 581, ill.
Wilhelm Uhde. The Impressionists. Vienna, 1937, p. 11, discusses the qualities in Delacroix's painting that may have attracted Manet.
Gotthard Jedlicka. Édouard Manet. Zürich, 1941, pp. 133–34.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946, pp. 23–24, ill., dates it about 1854.
A. Tabarant. Manet et ses œuvres. 4th ed. (1st. ed. 1942). Paris, 1947, pp. 19, 533, no. 7.
Michel Florisoone. Manet. Monaco, 1947, p. XVII, dates the two copies of Delacroix's "Bark of Dante" 1851–60.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 63.
George Heard Hamilton. Manet and His Critics. New Haven, 1954, p. 22 n. 5.
Georges Bataille. Manet: Biographical and Critical Study. New York, 1955, p. 6, dates it about 1857.
John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. rev., enl. ed. New York, 1961, p. 25, ill.
Gilberte Martin-Méry. Delacroix, ses maîtres, ses amis, ses élèves. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux. Bordeaux, 1963, p. 156, no. 363, dates it 1857.
Theodore Reff. "Copyists in the Louvre, 1850–1870." Art Bulletin 46 (December 1964), p. 556, dates it 1854.
Anne Coffin Hanson. Édouard Manet, 1832–1883. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1966, pp. 29, 38–39, no. 3, ill.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 24–25, ill., date it to the end of 1854 or the beginning of 1855 and note that the painting in Lyons was made first; see the influence of Couture in the "lumpy white patches of white paint" in the composition.
Sandra Orienti inThe Complete Paintings of Manet. New York, 1967, p. 87, no. 4B, dates it 1854?; comments that it was probably executed with the intention of studying Delacroix's color and composition.
Pierre Schneider. The World of Manet, 1832–1883. New York, 1968, p. 22.
Albert Boime. The Academy and French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. London, 1971, p. 130, fig. 112, reiterates that both copies were made during the same period.
Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Édouard Manet, catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1975, vol. 1, pp. 32–33, no. 3, ill., date it about 1854.
Peter Gay. Art and Act, On Causes in History—Manet, Gropius, Mondrian. New York, 1976, fig. 41, dates it about 1854.
Anne Coffin Hanson. Manet and the Modern Tradition. New Haven, 1977, p. 155, fig. 99, calls it an extraordinarily free sketch of which no aspect has been resolved, contrasting it to the fully worked-out version in Lyons.
Patricia Beck and Bluma Greenberg inFrench Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas. Ed. John Minor Wisdom. Exh. cat., William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1978, pp. 97–99, no. 47, pl. 47, date it probably 1854 and reiterate that it is the second version.
Albert Boime. Thomas Couture and the Eclectic Vision. New Haven, 1980, p. 456, fig. XII.5, asserts that this sketch, particularly in the upper half, "distinctly betrays Couture's grainy application of paint".
Frances Weitzenhoffer. "The Creation of the Havemeyer Collection, 1875–1900." PhD diss., City University of New York, 1982, p. 240, fig. 72, remarks that the Havemeyers bought it in Paris in late August 1895 from Durand-Ruel, who had acquired it from Vollard.
Françoise Cachin inManet, 1832–1883. Ed. Françoise Cachin and Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 45–46, under no. 1, fig. a [French ed., Paris], states that this work does "not seem to date from the same period" as the copy in Lyons, which she judges to be the earlier version, dating from about 1855, and notes that the MMA picture is dated 1859 in the annotated Lochard photograph albums (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris).
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 105, 257.
Françoise Cachin. Manet. [Paris], 1990, p. 148, fig. 3, dates it 1854?.
Éric Darragon. Manet. Paris, 1991, p. 32, dates it 1859 based on the Lochard photograph, and calls the Lyons version the second copy.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau. Manet by Himself, Correspondence & Conversation: Paintings, Pastels, Prints & Drawings. Boston, 1991, pp. 27, 307 no. 31, colorpl. 31, dates it about 1858.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 219.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin and Marie-Anne Dupuy inCopier Créer, De Turner à Picasso: 300 œuvres inspirées par les maîtres du Louvre. Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1993, p. 258, under no. 168, fig. 168a, believe that it must have been painted quite a bit later than the version now in Lyons, which they date about 1855.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 352, no. A343, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 442, ill.
Ronald Pickvance. Manet. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 1996, p. 216, suggests a date of 1859, later than the version of this painting in Lyons, which he dates about 1856.
Richard R. Brettell. Impression: Painting Quickly in France, 1860–1890. Exh. cat., National Gallery, London. New Haven, 2000, pp. 23, 41–42, 70–71, 211, 237, fig. 14, dates it about 1854.
Rebecca A. Rabinow and Jayne S. Warman inCézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, p. 276, state that this picture was exhibited by Vollard in March 1895 and was purchased from him by Durand-Ruel on August 24, 1895 for Fr 400.
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 78, 223, no. 54, ill. (color and black and white).
Laurence des Cars inManet, inventeur du Moderne. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2011, p. 42.
Stéphane Guégan inManet, inventeur du Moderne. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2011, pp. 117, 248, 273, no. 2, colorpl. 58.
James H. Rubin inPerspectives on Manet. Ed. Therese Dolan. Farnham, Surrey, 2012, pp. 125, 137 n. 7, dates it around 1854.
Andreas Dehmer inConstable, Delacroix, Friedrich, Goya: Die Erschütterung der Sinne / A Shock to the Senses. Exh. cat., Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Dresden, 2013, pp. 155, 205, ill. (color).
Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn. Manet/Degas. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. New York, 2023, p. 295, colorpl. 15.
This is one of two copies by Manet after Delacroix's celebrated painting of 1822, Bark of Dante (Musée du Louvre, Paris). The first version, a closer and more literal copy (Rouart and Wildenstein 1975, no. 4; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons), was done about 1854/55, when the original was on exhibition at the Exposition Universelle. This freely executed interpretation of Delacroix's color scheme is believed to have been painted about 1859.
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