Synopsis
Scholars and students of art and art history, the history of literature, culture and social history of 19th-century France, and the history of taste and censorship. Collectors, dealers and the non-specialist Manet enthusiast.
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From Library Journal
"The Execution of Maximilian" was painted by Edouard Manet in three successive versions from 1867 to 1869. This catalog for a show at London's National Gallery, which is exhibiting all versions, presents three essays exploring the milieu in which the paintings were made. The first essay covers the event that rocked Paris and embarrassed Napoleon III, who had installed and later abandoned the ill-fated Mexican emperor. The middle essay suggests Manet's interest in politics as information filtered back to Europe past the censors, showing artifacts such as a photograph of the emperor's bullet-torn shirt and portrait of the soldiers who shot him. It also compares Goya's famous "Third of May 1808" to the image Manet finally painted. The final essay considers heroic military painting, popular at the time, which Manet despised. The visuals are excellent. But the essays, taken as a whole, leave ambiguous the artist's true intentions and seem addressed to an audience of scholars who can best appreciate its factual, dry tone. For comprehensive collections.
- Ellen Bates, New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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