Édouard Manet (1832-1883) The Gitanos. 1862. Etching. 235 x 315 [265 x 360]. Guérin 21 (i/ii); Fisher 15 (i/vi); Bareau-Berès 32 (i/v). A very fine and extremely rare proof on ivory laid paper (watermark: hallines with shield surmounted by the letters hp), of the 1st state, before much new work, notably before the bouquet of trees on the left and before additional clouds, with good margins of 2 to 3 cm, remarged using a lighter laid paper. Slight trace of oxidation to the edges of this mount. Extremely rare: cataloguers list only two proofs of this 1st state, one in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (coll. Moreau-Nélaton), the other in the Baltimore Museum of Art (Lucas Collection). This etched subject is derived from a canvas by the artist, which he then cut into several fragments after the Alma exhibition in 1867. The etching is the only surviving evidence of the original painted composition. Counterbalancing the Italian Renaissance influence common to many works of the period, there is more of a Hispanic influence: Manet was a great admirer of Goya, Murillo and Velázquez. The figure of the standing man is reminiscent of a royal portrait by Velázquez, while the mother and child, close to a classical Nativity scene, are also reminiscent of Murillo's paintings of peasants. The Gitanos was the very first print that Manet donated to the Société des Aquafortistes. In its final state, the subject appeared in the first album of the Société des Aquafortistes (1st September 1862) published by Cadart, along with other engravings by Bracquemond, Corot, Daubigny, Seymour Haden, Jongkind, Legros and others. This was his first published engraving, and it immediately demonstrated his mastery as an engraver and marked his debut in the art. It was subsequently published again in a suite of 14 etchings by the artist around 1863, in the Cadart portfolio of 1874, and also, in 1872, on chine appliqué, in the album Cent eaux-fortes par cent artistes. The innovative, free and "brutal" side of the etching, with its deep bite, did not escape the attention of the critics, who could see how it departed from the conscientious and applied reproduction etching of the time.