''Boy Carrying a Sword'' is an 1861

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

by the French artist

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bo ...

and is now displayed at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. The work depicts a small boy costumed as a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

of the Spanish court of the seventeenth century; he is holding a full-sized sword and sword belt. The work was later reproduced as an etching under the direction of Dijon painter and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

Alphonse Legros who collaborated in the work. According to

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

, the work is typical of the influence of Spanish painters and shows the strong influence Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals had on Manet at the time. The artist's model was Leon Leenhoff, the stepson of the artist after his marriage to Suzanne in 1862.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy Carrying A Sword 1861 paintings Paintings by Édouard Manet Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings of children