Édouard Manet (Paris, 1832 - 1883, Paris)
Chez Tortoni, about 1875
Oil on canvas , 26 x 34 cm (10 1/4 x 13 3/8 in.)
This small rectangular oil painting depicts a light-skinned young man with brown hair and a light, curly mustache sitting next to a window. The man is wearing a top hat and a dark coat with just the edge of a white collar and cuffs visible. He has a pencil in his right hand and both hands are poised above a sketch pad on the table. He has stopped sketching to look out at the viewer. Light coming in from the window to the viewer's left highlights the right side of his face. A half-full glass of wine is on the table to the viewer's left.
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American Art Association. The Notable Private Collection of Modern Pictures belonging to the widely known antiquarian Dikran Khan Kélékian of Paris and New York (New York, 30-31 January 1922), lot 104, ill.
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1924 or 1925), p. 1.
Adolphe Tabarant. Manet: Histoire catalographique (Paris, 1931), p. 340, no. 292. (as "Journaliste" 1878 and café as La Nouvelle Athènes)
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), pp. 225-26.
Paul Jarmot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet I (Paris, 1932), p. 165, no. 367, fig. 79. (as "Portrait de Chenard-Huché, peintre, Chez Tortoni)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 25.
Stuart Preston. "Chez Tortoni" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 51. (as "Chez Tortoni", 1875?)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 152-53.
Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet. Catalogue raisonné (Lausanne-Paris, 1975), pp. 254-55, no. 328.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau (ed.). Manet by Himself (Boston, 1991), p. 235, pl. 185. (as "Man Writing in the Café / 'Chez Tortoni'" about 1878)
Kenneth McConkey. Impressionism in Britain. Exh. cat. (London: Barbican Art Gallery; Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery or Modern Art, 1995), p. 156, under no. 131. (as Chez Tortoni)
Object details
Accession number
P3s5
Primary Creator
Édouard Manet (Paris, 1832 - 1883, Paris)
Full title
Chez Tortoni
Creation Date
about 1875
Provenance
Possibly in the collection of the painter Georges Chenard-Huché (1864–1937).
Collection of Alphonse Kann (1870–1948).
Collection of Dikran Khan Kélékian (1868–1951) by 1920.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner at the American Art Association auction of Dikran Khan Kélékian's collection, New York on 30-31 January 1922 for $3400, lot 104, through American artist Louis Kronberg (1872–1965).
Stolen in 1990.
Marks
Signed (lower left): Manet
Dimensions
26 x 34 cm (10 1/4 x 13 3/8 in.)
Display Media
Oil on canvas
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Blue Room
Bibliography
Arséne Alexandre. Collection Kélékian: Tableaux de L'Ecole Française Moderne (Paris, 1920), no. 45.American Art Association. The Notable Private Collection of Modern Pictures belonging to the widely known antiquarian Dikran Khan Kélékian of Paris and New York (New York, 30-31 January 1922), lot 104, ill.
Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1924 or 1925), p. 1.
Adolphe Tabarant. Manet: Histoire catalographique (Paris, 1931), p. 340, no. 292. (as "Journaliste" 1878 and café as La Nouvelle Athènes)
Philip Hendy. Catalogue of Exhibited Paintings and Drawings (Boston, 1931), pp. 225-26.
Paul Jarmot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet I (Paris, 1932), p. 165, no. 367, fig. 79. (as "Portrait de Chenard-Huché, peintre, Chez Tortoni)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 25.
Stuart Preston. "Chez Tortoni" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 51. (as "Chez Tortoni", 1875?)
Philip Hendy. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1974), pp. 152-53.
Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet. Catalogue raisonné (Lausanne-Paris, 1975), pp. 254-55, no. 328.
Juliet Wilson-Bareau (ed.). Manet by Himself (Boston, 1991), p. 235, pl. 185. (as "Man Writing in the Café / 'Chez Tortoni'" about 1878)
Kenneth McConkey. Impressionism in Britain. Exh. cat. (London: Barbican Art Gallery; Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery or Modern Art, 1995), p. 156, under no. 131. (as Chez Tortoni)
Rights and reproductions
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Blue Room
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.