The Brioche
Manet reportedly called still life the "touchstone of the painter." From 1862 to 1870 he executed several large-scale tabletop scenes of fish and fruit, of which this is the last and most elaborate. It was inspired by the donation to the Louvre of a painting of a brioche by Jean Siméon Chardin, the eighteenth-century French master of still life. Like Chardin, Manet surrounded the buttery bread with things to stimulate the senses—a brilliant white napkin, soft peaches, glistening plums, a polished knife, a bright red box—and, in traditional fashion, topped the brioche with a fragrant flower.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Brioche
- Artist: Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)
- Date: 1870
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65.1 x 81 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift and Bequest of David and Peggy Rockefeller, 1991, 2017
- Object Number: 1991.287
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings
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