Portrait d'Edmond de Goncourt

Félix Bracquemond's large and enigmatic portrait of his friend, the author, bibliophile, critic, art theorist and collector Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896) was commissioned by Goncourt himself in 1879. This presumably meant that the objects depicted in the background, such as the stone relief with a faun carrying a nymph, the carved wooden scroll, and the strange vine pendant with tassels and a bird perching on it - is it alive of part of the ornament? - were carefully chosen by the sitter.
Following the death of their parents, Edmond and his brother Jules received an inheritance which allowed them to follow their passions and live their lives as aesthetes. The two brothers shared a house as well as many of their interests, and usually wrote, collected and pursued their artistic and literary projects together, until Jules' early death at the age of forty, in 1870. Their jointly written journal, continued by Edmond almost until the end of his life, is one of the most important accounts of the cultural life and gossip of 19th century Paris.
Bracquemond's preliminary drawing for this portrait was shown in 1880 at the fifth exhibition of the Impressionists, and over the subsequent months he developed the etching through eight different states. The present example is from the small deluxe edition of 25 impressions printed on vellum.