Flowers in a Crystal Vase

Down in the lower left corner, in Manet's hand, is a dedication to his friend Dr Evans. That was Thomas Evans, an American dentist who had grown rich in Paris looking after the teeth of crowned heads, Napoleon the Third among them, and who in 1870, when the Second Empire collapsed, helped the Empress Eugénie get out of the city. By 1882 the dentist was also the protector of Méry Laurent, a former stage performer who was one of Manet's closest friends and favourite models in his last years. The link between the two men ran mostly through her. The bouquet itself is roses with a spray of white lilac, standing in a cut-glass vase against a brown ground. The collector Philippe Meyer gave the picture to the state in 2000 but kept it at home until 2007.