The Guitarist (1861): Art, History and Details

The Guitarist (1861) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Manet’s painting The Spanish Singer won popular and critical success when it was exhibited in Paris at the annual Salon of 1860. The artist capitalized on the recognition of the painting and produced an etched version of the composition the following year that proved equally successful. Manet’s subject was inspired by Jaime Bosch, a virtuoso guitarist who was wildly popular in Paris in the mid-19th century. The Catalonian guitarist took part in the musical soirées organized by Madame Manet, the artist’s mother, at her home in Paris.

Object facts

• Title: The Guitarist
• Date: 1861
• Creator attribution: Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1956.747

Collection credit

The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Richards, Louise. "Prints of Edouard Manet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 8 (October 1957): 187-191.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.