Skirting the Issue: Manet's Portrait of Baudelaire's Mistress, Reclining
This article considers Manet's 1862 portrait of Jeanne Duval in light of Baudelaire's poetry and aesthetic writings on fashion and caricature. The painting is situated within the political debate concerning the regency of Empress Eugenie and the ensuing discourse concerning women and power in Second Empire France. Eugenie's political influence threatened to blur gender boundaries considered appropriate to the age. By allowing Duval's skirt to dominate the painting, Manet invoked a sign of feminine influence and opened a space to explore the dissent that was suppressed in political discourse.