Édouard
Manet Research

Disputed Paintings and Provenance Comparative Stylistic and Material Evidence

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Models

Attributing a work to Édouard Manet is rarely a binary conclusion. Between confirmed and dismissed lies a spectrum of evidence — partial, contradictory, or simply incomplete. To navigate this spectrum with consistency, Manet Secret applies two structured research methodologies, each calibrated to a different level of evidential certainty.

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Models 1

Models 1 applies to cases where the available evidence is substantial but not yet conclusive. These are works supported by traceable provenance references, stylistic correspondence with Manet’s documented production, or archival mentions that place them within his circle of activity. The methodology at this level involves systematic cross-referencing of exhibition records, dealer documentation, and period criticism, combined with comparative visual and material analysis.

Works examined under Models 1 are not presented as confirmed attributions.

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Models 2

Where evidence is thinner, fragmented, or indirect, Models 2 provides the framework. This methodology addresses works that surface in dispersed references — an inventory entry, a passing mention in correspondence, a sale record without subsequent trace — but where the evidentiary chain cannot yet sustain deeper analysis.

Rather than setting these cases aside, Models 2 preserves them within a structured register. The aim is to maintain a record of what exists at the margins of the known catalogue, ensuring that future discoveries — a recovered document, a newly accessible archive — can be brought into dialogue with material already mapped.