Depicting the Paris of his day, Edouard Manet (1832 1883) captured the nineteenth-century urban experience, legitimising  modern life as an artistic subject. His detached, frank mode of looking and his subversive handling of both paint and subject-matter shocked his contemporaries, and eventually established his reputation as the father of modern painting. This remarkable book explores Manet s portraiture, a significant yet often neglected aspect of his work, embracing examples from throughout his career. Leading authorities provide a thorough review of the artist s stylistic evolution, considering the influence of seventeenth-century Dutch painters, parallels with the work of Renoir and links with early photography. Lavishly illustrated with paintings, works on paper, and photographs of models and sitters, this landmark study throws new light on the quintessential painter of modernity.