Portrait of Jules de Jouy

Painted in 1879 and now at the National Museum Cardiff, Portrait of Jules de Jouy belongs to the series of portraits Manet made of social acquaintances and cultural figures during the 1870s. De Jouy was a French librettist and writer who moved in cultural circles connected to the Opéra; Manet frequented similar circles, portraying numerous writers, musicians, and intellectuals. By 1879 Manet's portrait practice was at its most refined — he had developed a directness and economy that set him apart from official portrait painters.

The portrait demonstrates Manet's characteristic portrait economy — dark suit providing tonal mass, the face built with warm and cool flesh-tone passages applied with confident brevity. The sitter is characterised through posture and expression rather than elaborate setting or costume. The paint surface is relatively lean, each brushstroke contributing to a direct, assured psychological characterisation.