Édouard Manet (1832-1883 )Polichinelle. 1874. Lithograph. [316 x 486]. Guérin 79; Fisher 61. color print. Very fine proof on cream vellum, of the rare 2nd state (of 3), before the letter, very carefully restored and lined with a voile de japon pelure. Slight thinning perceptible by transparency. A spot of rust on the right side of the staff. Good margins. "The only color print made by Manet. The model was one of his friends, the painter Edmond André, who also appears in this costume in the painting entitled Bal masqué à l'Opéra (Washington, National Gallery of Art), which was rejected by the Salon jury. Manet had launched a competition between poets to write two verses to be inscribed under the image of his Polichinelle. He chose the alexandrines of Théodore de Banville (1823-1891), who was considered one of the most eminent poets of his time. In 1876, 8,000 copies of the lithograph were withdrawn to be offered as a bonus to subscribers of the newspaper Le Temps. The censors thought they recognized a caricature of General Mac-Mahon and forbade its distribution." (Source: INHA). Of the 8,000 proofs, 1,500 were actually destroyed, according to Rançon, Lemercier's nephew and driver at the time of printing. The Polichinelle is, with Le Gamin and Guerre civile, one of the only three lithographs published during the artist's lifetime.