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A long-haired, small white dog with tawny-brown ears and spots sits on a garnet-red cushion in this loosely painted vertical portrait. The dog looks just to our left with large, round, black eyes under perked eyebrows. Long, floppy ears hang to either side of its short muzzle. A snub black nose glistens over its downward curving mouth. The long fur on the dog’s body is painted with visible strokes in white and silvery gray. Its thin front legs are braced near a black and white ball, which rests at the edge of the cushion near the lower right corner of the composition. The background is coffee brown, and the artist signed the lower right corner with black paint, “ed. Manet.”

Edouard Manet

A King Charles Spaniel, c. 1866

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 90

Medium

oil on linen

Dimensions

overall: 46 x 38 cm (18 1/8 x 14 15/16 in.)

framed: 66 x 57.8 x 8.9 cm (26 x 22 3/4 x 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.36

Artists / Makers

Edouard Manet (artist) French, 1832 - 1883

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right: ed. Manet

Provenance

Maurice Leclanché [1847-1921], Paris, by 1902 until 1910.[1] (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris), by 1910. Dr. Julius Elias [1861-1927], Berlin; by inheritance to his wife, Mrs. Julius [Julie] Elias, Berlin and Oslo[1866-1943]; [2] Eilif Moe, Lillehammer, Norway, by 1946.[3] (Frank Partridge & Sons, London); sold 1949 to (Wildenstein and Co., London, New York and Paris);[4] by whom sold 24 November 1958 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1]Published as Leclanché collection in Théodore Duret, Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1902, no. 89; and again in Duret's Manet and the Impressionists, London and Philadelphia, 1910, no. 89. Not included in the posthumous sale of the Leclanché collection held in Paris on 6 November 1924.

[2]Published as with Mme Elias in Jamot & Wildenstein, Manet, Paris, 1932, no. 128. This picture was not included in a 16 May 1933 sale of the Elias collection held in Brussels. Mme Julius [Julie] Elias emigrated to Norway with her son Ludwig, in 1938. Ludwig was deported to Auschwitz in 1942; Julie died of natural causes in Oslo in 1943.

[3]Lent by Moe to 1946 Oslo exhibition. See letter from Kunstnernes Hus dated 16 December 1977 in NGA curatorial files.

[4]Following Julie's death, three French Impressionist paintings were exported from Norway to relatives in the UK in 1949 with the help of her lawyer/friend Moe in Lillihammer. See Gabrielle Sokoll, "Julius Elias, Halvadan Koht and das jüdische Exil in Norwegen," Scandinavistik 21:2 (1991):116-130. Wildenstein acquisition date and source according to letter dated 14 December 1998, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bernheim-Jeune
Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Elias, Julie
Elias, Julius
Leclanché, Maurice
Moe, Eilif
Partridge and Sons, Ltd., Frank
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1867: Tableaux de Edouard Manet, Avenue de l'Alma, Paris, 1867, no. 42as Un chien épagneul

1928: Edouard Manet, Galerie Matthiesen, Berlin, 1928, no. 17

1946: Fransk Utstilling, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, 1946, no. 11

1959: Masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959, unnumbered catalogue

1966: French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 38, repro

1989: Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1999: Around Impressionism: French Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999, no cat.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 19, repro.

2003: Manet en el Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003-2004, no. 71, repro.

2011: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The National Art Center, Tokyo; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, 2011, no. 25, repro.

2013: Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016.

Bibliography

1902: Duret, Théodore. Histoire d'Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre.Paris, 1902: no. 89.

1909: Sainte-Croix, Camille de. Edouard Manet, Portraits d'Hier. Paris, 1909: 22.

1910: Duret, Théodore. Manet and the French Impressionists. Translated by J.E. Crawford Flitch. London and Philadelphia, 1910: 223, no. 89.

1919: Duret, Theodore. Historie de Edouard Manet et de son oeuvre. Paris, 1919: 247, no. 89.

1926: Moreau-Nélaton, Etienne. Manet, raconté par lui-même. 2 vols. Paris, 1926:I:86n, 89, repro. fig. 96.

1931: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet: histoire catalographique. Paris, 1931: no. 118.

1932: Jamot, Paul, and Georges Wildenstein. Manet. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:132, no. 128; 2:171, fig 348.

1938: Rey, Robert. Manet. New York and Paris, 1938: 163, no. 150.

1947: Tabarant, Adolphe. Manet et ses oeuvres. Paris, 1947: 131, repro. 129.

1970: Orienti, Sandra and Denis Rouart. Edouard Manet. Paris, 1970:no. 112, repro.

1970: Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Manet. London, 1970:no. 113a, repro.

1972: Bazin, Germain. Edouard Manet. Milan, 1972: 33, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 212, repro.

1975: Rouart, Denis and Daniel Wildenstein. Edouard Manet, catalogue raisonné 2 vols. Lausanne and Paris, 1975:II: no. 233, repro.

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 20, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1982: Thomson, Richard. "'Les Quat' Pattes': The Image of the Dog in Late Nineteenth Century French Art." Art History 5, no. 3 (September 1982): 326.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 449, no. 650, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 245, repro.

1987: Rand, Harry. Manet's Contemplation at the Gare Saint-Lazare. Berkeley, 1987:40, n. 61.

1997: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association 227, no. 2 (January 8, 1997): 92, cover repro.