Portrait of Charles Baudelaire, Full Face, after a photograph by Nadar

Description

Baudelaire’s pale face emerges above a black coat, white collar and narrow bow, with darker hatching occupying the background. Manet made the etched portrait after a photograph by Nadar, giving a recorded likeness a new graphic treatment. The source does not imply that the poet posed directly for this print, and the image remains an encounter with the face through another medium.

Dated 1868, the work is on wove China paper and represents the final of four states. Nadar’s role as photographer is distinct from Manet’s execution of the etched portrait, while Baudelaire remains its subject. The work’s interest lies partly in that passage between images: a photograph becomes a graphic interpretation without losing the sitter’s identity. The portrait invites attention to how a familiar face can be established through different processes of looking and making.

Read our guide to giclée prints, browse more Édouard Manet prints, or explore Portrait of Charles Baudelaire in Profile.