"Depicting the Paris of his day, Edouard Manet (1832-1883) captured the nineteenth-century urban experience, legitimizing '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, including 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 in the quintessential painter of modernity."--P. [2] of cover.