out-courbeted

photo by me of me with Olympia by Manet

I cannot help but swoon over delicious quotes that I uncover while pouring over newspapers of the past. Though few may grasp it (which leads me to wonder how many did at the time of the publication...) I will share it anyway. The following is from a review on an exhibition in London by the Society of French Artists in The Times, April 27, 1874:

"Manet is a conspicuous representative of the school in figure painting.

In what his admirers, we suppose, would call simplicity and frankness,

he far out-Courbets Courbet."

Though I'm sure if one were to ask Courbet, nobody could out-Courbet him!