A small sensation, this small portrait of a dog will be auctioned in Paris by Drouot on February 26th. The artist of the work was Édouard Manet, who captured the little Griffon Minnay in oil on canvas around 1879 and the result was donated by its owner, whose heirs have kept it in the family to this day.
Minnay's owner was Marguerite Gauthier-Lathuille, daughter of the owner of the Père Lathuille inn in the Batignolles district in the north of Paris, which was popular with the Impressionists.
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Around the same time as the portrait of Minnay, Manet painted a portrait of Marguerite Gauthier-Lathuille (also known as La jeune fille en blanc), who he may have noticed during his visits to Père Lathuille.
However, Manet's work on the two paintings was entirely different. While he was making preparatory sketches of the young woman on site because the portrait was a gift to Marguerite's father, the portrait of Minnay seems to have been made in the moment, as the quick brushstrokes reveal.
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Despite this spontaneity, Manet managed to capture the liveliness of the small, fluffy dog perfectly, which is a testament to his ability and technique.
Others also seem to have noticed the quality of the work in the painting: the art dealer Paul Rosenberg asked Marguerite Gauthier-Lathuille in a letter in 1928 to sell him the portrait. However, she refused and the painting has remained in the family's possession to this day. In 1975 it was included in Manet's catalog raisonné, but has not been on public display since it was painted. Now Drouot will offer it up with an estimated price of 220,000-280,000 euros ($265,000-340,000).
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