Perched upon a Bust of Pallas
1875
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Edouard Manet
Édouard Manet didn’t have much time to make his mark—he died at 51—but he used every year.
See the richer artist page1875
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Perched upon a Bust of Pallas is a 1875 by Edouard Manet, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a big black raven perched on a white bust. The bird’s dark feathers stand out against the pale marble. The raven looks right at us, like it’s waiting for an answer. Manet made this for a book version of Edgar Allan Poe’s *The Raven*. It’s one of four pictures he drew for the 1875 French edition. The raven isn’t just a bird—it’s a symbol of grief in the poem. It feels like a quiet moment frozen in time. Check out the raven’s sharp eyes. If you like this, look up Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883).
Edouard Manet created this lithograph for his friend Stephane Mallarmé’s 1875 French translation of American writer Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem “The Raven” (1845) about a man mourning his deceased love who is visited by a raven that repeatedly cries, “Nevermore.” Mallarmé’s edition is considered one of the first modern livres d’artistes —books created specifically as works of visual art. Manet created four full-page illustrations, including the scene in which the raven stares at the narrator from the top of the bust of the goddess Athena, and a raven head design used on the book’s cover…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Édouard Manet didn’t have much time to make his mark—he died at 51—but he used every year.
See the richer artist page
