Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Black: Portrait of Theodore Duret

Theodore Duret was a wealthy art critic, collector and an early champion of Impressionist painters and the heir to a firm of Cognac dealers) He had a lot of time to pursue his interest in art and was introduced to Whistler by Manet. Whistler suggested to Duret that he would like to paint him in evening clothes and asked him to get a pink "domino" or cape for an accent in the picture. Duret purchased such a garment from a theater costumer. Acclaimed when exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1885, it was ranked by many as the best portrait of Duret painted by any of the great Realist artists of the period (like Manet).