This pastel, executed in one sitting, depicts the celebrated Irish critic and novelist George Moore. Moore used it as the frontispiece for his book "Modern Painting" (1893), in which he noted that as he was "a fresh-complexioned, fair-haired young man, the type most suitable to Manet's palette, [the artist] at once asked [him] to sit." Manet made at least three other portraits of Moore, but this pastel is the only one he completed; one of the unfinished canvases, "George Moore at the Café" (55.193), is in the Museum's collection.

The exhibition of this pastel at the Galerie de La Vie Moderne in 1880 aroused public ridicule; it was commonly referred to as "Le Noyé repêché" (the drowned man fished out of the water).

Inscription: Signed (lower left): Manet

the artist, Paris (d. 1883; his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 4–5, 1884, no. 96, for Fr 1,800 to Jacob); private collection, Paris (probably until 1896; sold for Fr 10,000 through Alphonse Portier to Havemeyer); Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (probably from 1896–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 148–49, ill.)

Paris. La vie moderne. "Œuvres nouvelles d'Édouard Manet," April 1880, no. 15 (as "Portrait de M. G. M.) [see Ref. Wilson-Bareau 1991].

Paris. École nationale des beaux-arts. "Exposition des œuvres de Édouard Manet," January 6–28, 1884, no. 153 (lent by Mme Manet) [see Ref. Tabarant 1930].

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 182 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 162].

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism: A Centenary Exhibition," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet, 1832–1883," September 10–November 27, 1983, no. 176.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A360.

Paul Alexis. "Manet." La revue moderne et naturaliste (1880), pp. 289–95 [see Ref. Rouart and Wildenstein 1975].

Gustave Goetschy. "Édouard Manet." La vie moderne no. 16 (April 17, 1880), p. 250.

Edmond Bazire. Manet. Paris, 1884, p. 118.

George Moore. Modern Painting. New York, 1898, ill. (frontispiece).

Théodore Duret. Histoire d'Édouard Manet et de son œuvre. Paris, 1902, pp. 136, 159, 298, no. 67, ill.

George Moore. "Erinnerungen an die Impressionisten." Kunst und Künstler 5 (October 1906), p. 20, ill.

Étienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manuscrit de l'œuvre d'Édouard Manet, peinture et pastels. [1906], unpaginated, no. 362 [Département des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris].

A. Chatte. "Notes sur Manet, V. la vente Manet en 1884 (4-5 Fevrier)." Journal des curieux (March 10, 1907), p. 13, no. 27 [see Ref. Jamot and Wildenstein 1975].

Erich Hancke. "Manet als Porträtmaler." Kunst und Künstler 8 (February 1910), p. 248.

Théodore Duret. Manet and the French Impressionists. 2nd ed. [1st ed. 1910]. London, 1912, p. 254, no. 67.

Julius Meier-Graefe. Édouard Manet. Munich, 1912, pp. 272, 326, no. 96, reprints the catalogue of the Manet sale of 1884.

Jacques-Émile Blanche. De David à Degas. Paris, 1919, p. 149, criticizes it harshly.

Étienne Moreau-Nélaton. Manet raconté par lui-même. Paris, 1926, vol. 2, p. 65, figs. 259 and 347, illustrates this portrait hanging in the 1884 posthumous exhibition.

Jacques-Émile Blanche. Mes modèles. Paris, 1928, pp. 210–11, dates it about 1880; comments that in this portrait Moore was referred to as "le Noyé rêpeché" and remarks that it looks like a caricature.

A. Tabarant. "Les Manet de la collection Havemeyer." La Renaissance 13 (February 1930), pp. 73–74, ill., notes that it was lent to the 1884 exhibition by Mme Manet.

A. Tabarant. Manet, histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931, p. 468, no. 30.

Paul Colin. Édouard Manet. Paris, 1932, p. 74, dates it 1879.

Paul Jamot and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. Paris, 1932, vol. 1, p. 164, no. 365; vol. 2, fig. 207.

A. Tabarant. "Les quatre-vingts ans de George Moore." L'œuvre (October 9, 1932), ill. [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967].

Jacques-Émile Blanche. Portraits of a Lifetime: The Late Victorian Era, The Edwardian Pageant, 1870–1914. [reprint; 1st ed. 1937]. 1938, pp. 136–37.

Gotthard Jedlicka. Édouard Manet. Zürich, 1941, pp. 117–19, 281, ill. opp. p. 289.

Douglas Cooper. "George Moore and Modern Art." Horizon: A review of literature and art 11 (February 1945), p. 120.

John Rewald. Édouard Manet: Pastels. Oxford, 1947, pp. 37, 48, 56, fig. 1 (color).

A. Tabarant. Manet et ses œuvres. 4th ed. (1st. ed. 1942). Paris, 1947, pp. 360–61, 376, 546, no. 475, fig. 475.

S. Lane Faison, Jr. "Manet's Portrait of Zola." Magazine of Art 42 (May 1949), p. 168, fig. 15, compares it to Manet's self-portrait of 1878 (Jacob Goldschmidt collection, New York).

George Heard Hamilton. Manet and His Critics. New Haven, 1954, p. 227.

Georges Bataille. Manet: Biographical and Critical Study. New York, 1955, pp. 116–17, 120, ill. (color).

Margaretta Salinger. "Manet and George Moore." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (January 1957), pp. 117–19, ill. (on cover in color), suggests that this is the portrait "in which Moore fancied his Englishness was beginning to wane".

Kurt Martin. Édouard Manet: Aquarelle und Pastelle. Basel, 1958, unpaginated, no. 21, ill. (color).

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 234–36, recounts the circumstances of the purchase of this picture, noting that they paid Fr 10,000 for it and stating that George Moore expressed his dislike of this portrait to Mary Cassatt.

John Rewald. The History of Impressionism. rev., enl. ed. New York, 1961, pp. 401–2, ill.

Pierre Courthion. Édouard Manet. New York, 1962, pp. 138–39, ill. (color).

Henri Perruchot. Édouard Manet. New York, 1962, pp. 68, 73–74, ill., remarks that George Moore was not pleased with this portrait and notes Manet's response to Moore's reaction: "I shan't make any alterations to his portrait. Is it my fault if Moore looks like a squashed egg yolk and if his face is out of proportion?".

Ronald Pickvance. "A Newly Discovered Drawing by Degas of George Moore." Burlington Magazine 105 (June 1963), pp. 278–79, fig. 40, comments that Manet's portraits of Moore are "now generally agreed to have been executed in 1879".

Sandra Orienti in The Complete Paintings of Manet. New York, 1967, pp. 110–11, no. 278B, ill.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 48–50, ill., date it probably 1979, noting that it was made after Moore's stay in Paris; remark that it is the most finished of the three portraits that Manet made of Moore and is usually regarded as the definitive one; note that this work was known as "le noyé repêche".

Merete Bodelsen. "Early Impressionist Sales 1874–94 in the Light of some Unpublished 'procès verbaux'." Burlington Magazine 110 (June 1968), p. 341–42, publishes the original record of Manet's posthumous sale of 1884 (Archives de la Seine, Paris), which states that Jacob paid Fr 1,800 for this picture.

Pierre Schneider. The World of Manet, 1832–1883. New York, 1968, pp. 136, 187, ill., and color detail on slipcase.

John Rewald. "Should Hoving Be De-accessioned?" Art in America 61 (January–February 1973), p. 27.

Carl R. Baldwin The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Impressionist Epoch. [New York], 1974, p. 27.

Denis Rouart and Daniel Wildenstein. Édouard Manet, catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1975, vol. 2, pp. 4–5, no. 11, ill.

Lillian Browse. Forain: The Painter, 1852–1931. London, 1978, p. 98, under no. 6, mentiones a portrait of Moore in the MMA, probably this one, in cataloguing Forain's "Une loge à l'opéra (called 'George Moore leaving the Opera')" (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.) of about 1880.

Charles S. Moffett in Manet, 1832–1883. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 427–29, no. 176, colorpl. 176 [French ed., Paris, 1983].

Denys Sutton. "Édouard Manet: The Artist as Dandy." Apollo 118 (October 1983), pp. 337–38, ill. (in color on cover).

Juliet Wilson-Bareau in Charles S. Moffett and Françoise Cachin. Manet, 1832–1883. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, p. 412 [French ed., 1983].

Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 44–45, ill. (color).

Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 115–16, 256 n. 15, pl. 70, repeats the story that Cassatt told the Havemeyers when they bought this picture: that Manet had invited Moore to come work in his studio, but only so that he could study him and make this portrait.

Éric Darragon. Manet. Paris, 1989, pp. 314, 323–24.

Françoise Cachin. Manet. [Paris], 1990, pp. 135, 158, fig. 6 (color), dates it 1878–79 and erroneously notes that it was a gift to the MMA from Mrs. Ralph J. Hines.

Éric Darragon. Manet. Paris, 1991, pp. 302–3, 306, 314, colorpl. 212.

Sarah Carr-Gomm. Manet. London, 1992, pp. 128–29, ill. (color).

Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 233–36, 334 n. 339.

Vivien Perutz. Édouard Manet. Lewisburg, Pa., 1993, pp. 194–96, colorpl. 53, compares it to Manet's portrait of Henri Rochefort (Kunsthalle, Hamburg).

Susan Alyson Stein in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 220.

Gary Tinterow in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 27, colorpl. 26.

Gretchen Wold in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 356–37, no. A360, ill.

Hans Körner. Edouard Manet: Dandy, Flaneur, Maler. Munich, 1996, pp. 171–72, fig. 145.

Thomas W. Gaehtgens. Max Liebermann: Jahrhundertwende. Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie. Berlin, 1997, p. 147, fig. 4, discusses a copy made by Liebermann in 1898 (private collection).

Tobias G. Natter and Julius H. Schoeps in Max Liebermann und die französischen Impressionisten. Exh. cat., Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien. Vienna, 1997, p. 214, ill.

Gary Tinterow in La collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1997, pp. 52–53, 108, fig. 22.

Carol Armstrong. Manet Manette. New Haven, 2002, p. 250.

This pastel, executed in one sitting, depicts the celebrated Irish critic and novelist George Moore, who was in Paris from 1873 until the end of 1879. During that time Manet made at least three more portraits of him, including an unfinished oil sketch also in the MMA (55.193).