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ART HISTORICAL RESEARCH One of the most important aspect of art historical research in determining authenticity is the analysis of visual material, documents, and written or published sources. For this investigation, they have been subdivided into five main groups: written sources, provenances, image research, oeuvre research and context. What follows is an account of the assessment of the painting Jobarde on the basis of this classification.
1. Written Sources 1.1 – The Will of 30 September 1882
Fig. 6 Édouard Manet, Carnet de notes (1860–1862) Nombreuses adresses, notamment de modèles. Et quelques croquis (cover), 1860-1862, only surviving notebook of Édouard Manet, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City Fig. 7 Édouard Manet, Carnet de notes (1860–1862) Nombreuses adresses, notamment de modèles. Et quelques croquis (pp.8-9), 1860-1862, only surviving notebook of Édouard Manet, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City
Seven months before his death, Édouard Manet drafted his will.1 He appointed his brother Eugène Manet, his wife Suzanne Leenhoff, and his cousin Jules Dejouy as his executors. His friend Théodore Duret was instructed to supervise the sale or destruction of the works in his studio. Manet wrote: “The pictures, sketches and drawings remaining in my studio after my death are to be sold at auction. I should like my friend Théodore Duret to take charge of this sale, trusting entirely in his taste, and in the friendship he has always shown me, to decide what should be put up for auction and what should be destroyed. I should like him to choose from my work a picture to remember me by.” 2 This last wish supports the assumption that the oeuvre as a hermetic legacy was incomplete in two ways. Firstly, Manet speaks of “the pictures, sketches and drawings remaining in my studio”. Secondly, he speaks of “what should be destroyed.” Both remarks suggest that Manet had already sifted through the works at an earlier stage, warranting the conclusion that the oeuvre was no longer complete even before he died. 1.2 – Inventaire Après Décès Édouard Manet The Inventaire Après Décès Édouard Manet no. 40 is a posthumous inventory of the paintings present in Manet's studio undertaken approximately forty-five days
