L’Execution de Maximilien

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L’Execution de Maximilien

Artist Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)

Date1868 (published 1884)

DimensionsOverall: 13 1/16 x 17 in. (33.2 x 43.2 cm)

MediumLithograph

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1930.15

Not on View

Label TextIn 1864, French troops invaded Mexico, installing Austrian archduke Ferdinand Maximilian as a puppet emperor. An insurrection erupted and the French abandoned Maximilian, who was captured and executed on June 19, 1867, along with two Mexican generals, Miramon and Mejia. Emperor Napoleon III’s bungled imperialism infuriated many French, including Édouard Manet, a staunch supporter of the Republic over the monarchy. Manet recorded the event in four paintings and this lithograph. His images reinvented the way history was represented at the time by providing images that were true to life, cool, and objective, rather than heroic or idealized. Stripped of superfluous detail, this lithograph concentrates the action and horror of the event and draws on the war imagery of the Spanish artist Francesco de Goya for inspiration (see Goya’s Disasters of War displayed nearby). Manet’s depiction of the executioners in French uniforms was seen as provocative and French authorities refused to allow the lithograph to be printed. It was only published in 1884, after Manet’s death.Published ReferencesGuérin, L'ouevre gravé de Manet, no. 73. Harris 54. Wilson (Beres, 1978) 77. cf. Fisher 49.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Modern Print, Feb.-Mar. 1959. Toledo Museum of Art, Disasters of War: Realistic and Symbolic Interpretation, July 13 - Oct. 21, 2001. Toledo Museum of Art, The French Connection: French Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Feb 18 - May 15, 2005. Toledo Museum of Art, The Painter Was a Printmaker, June 23 - Sept. 9, 1984 Toledo Museum of Art, Strong Sensations: Impressionism and Symbolist Works on Paper, 1860-1900, April 23-June 20 2010 (no cat.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Prints and Authors from the Time of Manet, September 13, 2012-January 13, 2013.Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.