The Philosopher
Plate: 12 3/16 x 9 3/8 inches (30.96 x 23.81 cm)
Sheet: 17 x 11 1/4 inches (43.18 x 28.58 cm)
A Century of Master Prints: 1850–1950, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, January 28–June 16, 1984.
Town and Country,The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, July 23, 2011–January 22, 2012; May 08–November 10, 2019, no cat.
The Philosopher reproduces one of two paintings Edouard Manet produced featuring the subject of the beggar-philosopher. Manet was greatly impacted by the works of the 17th-century painter Diego Velazquez that he encountered during a trip to Spain in 1865. In this etching, Manet adopted Velazquez’s dramatic composition of a single figure posed against a stark background. The subject of the beggar-philosopher who lived outside the rules and constraints of French society fascinated 19th-century Realist writers and artists.
With Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, by July 18, 1966;
Purchased from Kennedy Galleries, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1966.
Etienne Moreau-Nélaton,Manet, graveur et lithographe(Paris: Loys Delteil, 1906), no. 35.
Marcel Guérin, L'Œuvre gravé de Manet (Paris: Floury, 1944; repr., New York: Da Capo Press, 1969), no. 43.
Jean C. Harris, Edouard Manet: Graphic Works; a definitive catalogue raisonné (New York: Collectors Editions, 1970), no. 47.
George L. McKenna, The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Prints 1460 –1995 (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in association with The University of Washington Press, 1996), 293.
