Méry Laurent Wearing a Small Toque

Painted in 1882 and now at the Clark Art Institute, this small portrait of Méry Laurent — one of Manet's most cherished late models and friends — wearing a small toque hat belongs to the series of intimate pastel and oil studies that characterised his final productive years before his death in 1883. Méry Laurent was an actress and courtesan who moved in the most cultivated Parisian circles; she became close to both Manet and Mallarmé and appears in numerous late works. By 1882 Manet's health was severely declining — he was suffering from locomotor ataxia that would kill him the following year — yet his late small-format works are extraordinarily fresh and economical.

The small format encourages Manet's most economical manner — a few direct strokes establish the hat's dark mass, a handful of warm touches build the face. The brushwork is free, almost sketchlike, but precisely placed. The cool darkness of the toque creates a strong tonal anchor for the composition. The paint surface has the quality of instantaneous perception that Manet perfected in his late years.