Young art students Carolus-Duran and Fantin met while copying masterpieces at the Louvre about 1855. Carolus-Duran celebrated their friendship in two pictures of 1861: this likeness of twenty-five-year-old Fantin, and a closely related portrait (Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Fresh and penetrating, the present portrayal reveals the talents that made Carolus-Duran a rising star. Employing striking tonal contrasts and bold brushwork, he demonstrated his allegiance to the daring styles championed by Courbet and Manet. However, Carolus-Duran would soon temper his approach; he became a fashionable society portraitist and teacher, counting among his pupils John Singer Sargent.
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