Madame Edouard Manet on a Blue Sofa

A painted portrait attests to long minutes, stretching into longer hours, spent studying an individual’s features and dress. Even the language used to describe the process, “capturing a likeness,” implies something taken and, by extension, something given up. Yet despite the inevitable intimacy of the process, many portraits feel opaque—an apparently accurate transcription...

~In late 1862, Édouard Manet (1832–1883) noted in his studio carnet that a model he described as “Laure, très belle négresse” (“Laure, very beautiful black woman”) sat for a portrait in his rue...