Death of Caesar

~Mary Cassatt and her mother arrived in Paris for the Christmas season late in 1865. The parties and balls in Philadelphia in December and January would have been enjoyable, but the season in Paris was brilliant. For Americans, much of the entertainment revolved around parties and dinners held by the American consul and special services at the American Chapel....

~Like many a fellow Parisian, Manet enjoyed fancy dress and make-believe. Writing of a party in honor of Zola, George Moore remembered, ‘Manet had persuaded me to go to the Bal de l’Assommoir dressed as a Parisian workman, for he enjoyed incongruities, and the blouse and the casquette, with my appearance and my accent, appealed to his imagination...