The Spanish Singer1860
A guitarist in Spanish costume sits on a bench, singing as he plays. More about this work
About this work
A guitarist in Spanish costume sits on a bench, singing as he plays. Manet painted him in 1860 from a model posed in the studio, at a time when all things Spanish were the fashion in Paris, and the picture won an honourable mention at the Salon of 1861, his first official success. Musicians soon noticed that the guitar is strung for a right-handed player but held left-handed, a reminder that the scene was staged. The broad, frank handling owes much to Velázquez and Goya.
Written by Ochre Editions.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Édouard Manet
French, 1832–1883 · Born and died in Paris.
Manet came from a prosperous Parisian family, trained under Thomas Couture and studied the old masters, Velázquez above all. In the 1860s he provoked critics with Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia, modern subjects painted in flat, frank colour with little modelling. Though he never showed with the Impressionists, younger painters looked to him as a leader, and in his last years he painted Parisian café life and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 49.58.2
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Paintings
- Department
- European Paintings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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