DepictingtheParisofhisday,EdouardManet(18321883)capturedthenineteenth-centuryurbanexperience,legitimisingmodernlifeasanartisticsubject.Hisdetached,frankmodeoflookingandhissubversivehandlingofbothpaintandsubject-mattershockedhiscontemporaries,andeventuallyestablishedhisreputationasthefatherofmodernpainting.ThisremarkablebookexploresManetsportraiture,asignificantyetoftenneglectedaspectofhiswork,embracingexamplesfromthroughouthiscareer.Leadingauthoritiesprovideathoroughreviewoftheartistsstylisticevolution,consideringtheinfluenceofseventeenth-centuryDutchpainters,parallelswiththeworkofRenoirandlinkswithearlyphotography.Lavishlyillustratedwithpaintings,worksonpaper,andphotographsofmodelsandsitters,thislandmarkstudythrowsnewlightonthequintessentialpainterofmodernity.