# Émile Zola \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MANET, Edouard]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil on canvas ## Commentary The portrait of Émile Zola comprises two still-lifes. On the one hand, the wall decorations - a Japanese print, an engraving after <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/v/velazque/02/0210vela.html'\)" href="/html/v/velazque/02/0210vela.html">Velázquez's The Topers,</a> and a reproduction of Olympia \(who turns her head towards Zola as if in gratitude - speak of Manet's "Japonisme" and hispanisme" as his sources. On the other, the masterly jumble of objects on the desk - porcelain inkpot, the sky-blue brochure that Zola had just written in Manet's defence - and the choice of one of Manet's favourite works of reference, Charles Blanc's L'Histoire des peintres, for Zola's reading-matter, constitute Manet's grateful homage to his friend. ## Related artworks - [A Bar at the Folies-Bergère \(detail\)]() - [A Bar at the Folies-Bergère]() - [A Matador \(Matador Saluting\)]() - [Argenteuil]() - [At Longchamp Racecourse]() - [At Père Lathuille]() - [At the Café \(Bock Drinkers\)]() - [At the Café]() - [Baudelaire Bareheaded, Full Face]() - [Baudelaire with Hat, in Profile]() - [Baudelaire's Mistress Reclining]() - [Bench in the Garden at Versailles]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()