Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Portrait of a Young Man
Edouard Manet French
Not on view
These two works reveal the dominant influences on each artist’s early graphic style. From his teacher Thomas Couture, who set up his studio as a challenge to the official curriculum of the École des Beaux-Arts, Manet adopted an emphasis on strong outline and an unfinished aesthetic, apparent even in a fully executed drawing such as this portrait of an unknown sitter. In the graphite study of his younger brother René, Degas emulates the portrait drawings of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in the formal pose, subtle modeling of the head, and sparse treatment of the body and background. When Degas visited Ingres in 1855—the same year inscribed on this sheet—the older artist famously advised him to focus above all on drawing.
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