Portrait de Théodore Duret

Portrait de Théodore Duret (1868), in the Petit Palais, depicts the wine merchant, journalist, and art critic who became one of Manet's earliest and most articulate defenders. Duret's writings on Manet and the Impressionists helped establish the intellectual framework through which their work would eventually be understood, making him a pivotal figure in nineteenth-century art criticism. The portrait, painted relatively early in their friendship, captures Duret before he became famous as an advocate—at a moment when both men were still in the process of defining their roles in French cultural life. The Petit Palais's holding of this work is appropriate given its character as a document of Paris's intimate art-critical community.

The composition is notable for including a still-life element—a lemon placed on the floor beside the sitter—that gives the otherwise conventional standing portrait an unexpected note of visual wit. Manet's fluid, confident brushwork renders the face with psychological directness while the elegant suit is painted with the precise attention to material quality he consistently brought to contemporary dress.