Manet travelled the length and breadth of European search of
masterpieces. In 1856, he was overwhelmed by the works of Diego Velazquez in
Vienna. It was to be a decisive influence; the superlative Portraits
Philip IV sent to the Vienna court were a revelation to Manet.
The astounding economy of means that allowed Velazquez to obtain
great intensity from very few tones - was a lesson that Manet took
to heart: the greatest colourists, he realised were sparing in
their use of colour.
In The Old Musician Manet has painted characters
from this area he called "a picturesque slum." Most are real
individuals. The seated musician is Jean Lagrène, leader of a
local gypsy band who earned his living as an organ grinder and
artist's model. The man in the top hat is Colardet, a rag-picker
and ironmonger. At the right a man named Guéroult is cast as the
"wandering Jew," the prototypical outsider. In their poses and
dress, several figures recall those of Diego Velázquez or the
peasants painted by French seventeenth-century artist Louis Le
Nain, whose works Manet would also have seen during his studies in
the Louvre.
Impassive and silent, these people from the margins of
Parisian life are restricted to the narrow plane of the
foreground. Presented with neutral detachment, they do not
interact, appearing equally unconnected to each other and the
vague, undefined setting they inhabit. The urchin and rag picker
look toward the seated musician, but he is unaware, focused
instead on the viewer outside the picture. The emotional blankness
of Manet's painting felt "modern" to contemporary viewers.
MOST POPULAR PAINTINGS
A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
Olympia
Luncheon on the Grass
The Fifer
The Railway
The Balcony
Music in the Tuileries Garden
Self Portrait with Palette