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Lola de Valence by Manet
Lola de ValenceOil on canvas, 1862 Lola Melea, known as Lola de Valence, was the star of the Camprubi dance troupe, which appeared at the Hippodrome and made enough of an impression for Manet’s friend Zacharie Astruc to compose and publish a song about her; Manet made a lithographic portrait of her for the cover. This painting was done in the studio, but Manet added stage ‘flats’ and a glimpse of the audience waiting for Lola to come on. At the time of exhibition of this painting at Louis Martinet’s gallery, Baudelaire wrote a four-line poem in which he compared the subject with ‘the unexpected charm of a pink and black jewel’. He saw in Manet’s work the influence of Spanish painters, particularly Goya, which had led to Manet’s being dubbed ‘the Parisian Spaniard’. All things Spanish seemed exotic and romantic to the French for much of the 19th century. Manet shared this feeling, and also tried to exploit it. Manet had then never been to Spain, although he had seen many works by Spanish masters in France, Austria and elsewhere. Delacroix was appalled by the hostile critical reaction to its exhibition at Martinet’s, remarking “I regret not to have been able to defend this man”. Like Delacroix, Manet was a devotee of the bold use of color. Own An Original Re-Creation
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Hand-painted in oils by a professional artist