NARRATOR—Manet made his debut at the Salon of 1861 with this remarkable painting. The format is taken directly from some of the most celebrated portraits by Velazquez.The Spanish painters Velazquez and Goya had been very much in vogue in France since at least the 1840s, and here Manet had appropriated their subject matter as well as their composition and technique. As in Velazquez, the figure of the singer is silhouetted against a featureless brown background. It does not recede into depth, but pushes forward, close to the picture plane. Manet has also adapted the restrained color scheme and painterly bravura of the Spanish masters.The colors here are largely confined to a somber range of blacks, whites and earth tones. Manet’s great painterly ability is evident in the brilliant brushwork that enlivens his sober palette.Notice the luscious fluidity of paint in the singer's gray trousers and in the luminous white of the shirt and headscarf.

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