Head of Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830–1914) by Édouard Manet

This is Head of Jean-Baptiste Faure, painted by Édouard Manet around 1882. Faure was the most celebrated baritone of the 19th century, a man accustomed to applause, costumes, and total command of a room. Manet gave him this instead.

Look at the beard and mustache, Manet paints them with such rapid, broken strokes that they almost read as a costume being taken off. The dark coat is a shorthand smear. All the energy and attention goes to the eyes and the bare, modeled crown of the head. Faure's wealthy, theatrical public image is stripped away, and what remains is a tired man with a slightly weary gaze.

Faure owned dozens of works by Manet, one of the artist's most important patrons. But when he saw this portrait, he rejected it outright. Manet was furious, calling the singer conceited and refusing to rework it. The rupture was permanent. For Faure, the painting failed because it refused to perform. For Manet, that refusal was the whole point.

The Met now holds it, a small, confrontational study in what a portrait owes its sitter, and what it doesn't.