Manet's mania for things Spanish continues. In 1867, Gustave Courbet, upon
seeing Manet's private exhibition in the shed next to his own,
exclaimed, "What a lot of Spaniards!" Manet's Spanish period had
reached its peak in 1862. It was then that he painted his Gypsy
with a Cigarette, which was owned by his friend Edgar Degas, Le Ballet
Espagnol and Lola de Valence, The Dancer Mariano Camprubi, Young
Man in Costume of a Majo, Mile Victorine in the Costume of an
Espada , and Young Man in Costume of a Toreador. The following
year he painted La Posada.
The woman who posed for this painting was a friend of
Felix Tournachon, better known as Nadar, the great photographer of
the period, through whom we know all the prominent Parisians of
his day. At the bottom of the canvas is the dedication, "A mon ami
Nadar, Manet."
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