Édouard Manet, Corner of a Café-Concert

It has been known for a long time that Manet originally painted a large composition called ‘Café-concert de Reichshoffen’ in 1878 and then divided the painting into two unequal pieces before the original composition had been completed. Art historians agreed on the assumption that the left-hand part of the original painting is now the painting ‘Au Café’ in the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland. The painting ‘Corner of a Café-Concert‘ in the National Gallery London was the candidate for the right side of the original composition.

Édouard Manet, Au Café, 1878, Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland (left). Corner of a Café-Concert, 1878-80, National Gallery London (right)

The National Gallery painting was cleaned and thoroughly investigated in 1983 (1). In 2005 a joint investigation by scientists from the National Gallery London and Oskar Reinhart Collection (2) confirmed the findings of the first investigation and further deepened the understanding of the sequence of events leading to the present state of both paintings.

The joint project resulted in an exhibition in 2005 in the Gallery At Römerholz in Winterthur, Switzerland, where both paintings were shown side by side for the first time after 125 years. An exhibition catalog was also published at this time (3).

The third painting in this series, La Serveuse de Bocks, 1878-89, Musée d’Orsay is assumed to be a study for the reworking of the London picture after it was separated from the large composition.

Édouard Manet, La Serveuse de Bocks, 1878-89, Musée d’Orsay © Photo RMN-Grand Palais – H. Lewandowski

References

(1) Bomford, D., Roy, A. ‘Manet’s “The Waitress”: An Investigation into its Origin and Development’. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 7, pp 3–19. Available as pdf.

(2) Matthew Allen, Meeting of Manets paints full picture, swissinfo website.

(3) Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Malcom Park, Devision and Revision: Manet’s ‘Reichshoffen’ Revealed, Edited by Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice, Oskar Reinhart Collection ʻAm Römerholz ̓, for the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2008, Revised and expanded edition of the German publication Manet trifft Manet: Geteilt, wiedervereint, Schwabe Verlag, Basle, 2005.

The following pigment analysis is based on the work of the scientists at the National Gallery London (1).

1 The dark blue of man’s blouse: cobalt blue and lead white with smaller amounts of cerulean blue, red lake, and traces of artificial ultramarine and chrome orange.
2 Middle tones of the blouse: artificial ultramarine and lead white with smaller amounts of cobalt blue.
3 Orange of beer: chrome orange.

4 Brilliant green dabs in the background: emerald green.

5 Orange-brown of the front of stage: chrome orange and artificial ultramarine with smaller amounts of red lake, vermilion, chrome yellow, Naples yellow and lead white. Traces of cobalt blue are also present.
6 The warm brown of prompter box: chrome orange, artificial ultramarine, and red lake with smaller amounts of vermilion, chrome yellow, Naples yellow, and lead white and traces of cobalt blue and cerulean blue.
7 Bright yellow highlight on trombone: Naples yellow.

8 The louvered shutter on the right-hand side: Naples yellow and chrome yellow or lemon yellow.

9 Shadow of man’s hand: vermilion and lead white with smaller amounts of chrome orange and red lake.
10 Dark purple on the left-hand side: red lake, artificial ultramarine, and vermilion.

11 Black of waitresses’ blouse: ivory black with smaller amounts of cobalt blue, red lake, and chrome orange and traces of lead white.
12 Skin tone of waitresses’ wrist: lead white with smaller amounts of vermilion, cerulean blue, artificial ultramarine, chrome orange, and chrome yellow.
13 White of waitresses’ cuff: lead white.

References

(1) Bomford, D., Roy, A. ‘Manet’s “The Waitress”: An Investigation into its Origin and Development’. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 7, pp 3–19. Available as pdf.

(1) Bomford, D., Roy, A. ‘Manet’s “The Waitress”: An Investigation into its Origin and Development’. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 7, pp 3–19. Available as pdf.

(2) Juliet Wilson-Bareau and Malcom Park, Devision and Revision: Manet’s ‘Reichshoffen’ Revealed, Edited by Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice, Oskar Reinhart Collection ʻAm Römerholz ̓, for the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Paul Holberton Publishing, London, 2008, Revised and expanded edition of the German publication Manet trifft Manet: Geteilt, wiedervereint, Schwabe Verlag, Basle, 2005.