_Desboutin_ and the _Linge_ (an exquisite picture,--one of the best
productions of open-air study) were rejected. Manet then recommenced the
experience of 1867, and opened his studio to the public. A register at
the door was soon covered with signatures protesting against the jury,
as well as with hostile jokes, and even anonymous insults! In 1877 the
defeated jury admitted the portrait of the famous singer Faure in the
part of Hamlet, and rejected _Nana_, a picture which was found
scandalising, but has charming freshness and an intensely modern
character. In 1878, 1879 and 1880 they accepted _la Serre_, the
surprising symphony in blue and white which shows Mr George Moore in
boating costume, the portrait of Antonin Proust, and the scene at the
_Père Lathuile_ restaurant, in which Manet's nervous and luminous
realism has so curious a resemblance to the art of the Goncourts. In
1881 the portrait of Rochefort and that of the lion-killer, Pertuiset,
procured the artist a medal at the Salon, and Antonin Proust, the friend
of Manet's childhood, who had become Minister of Fine Arts, honoured
himself in decorating him with the legion of honour. In 1882 appeared a
magnificent canvas, the _Bar des Folies-Bergère_, in which there is some
sparkling still-life painting of most attractive beauty. It was
accompanied by a lady's portrait, _Jeanne_. But on April 30, 1883, Manet
died, exhausted by his work and struggles, of locomotor ataxy, after
having vainly undergone the amputation of a foot to avoid gangrene.

[Illustration: MANET

THE BAR AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE]

It will be seen that Manet fought through all his life: few artists'
lives have been nobler. His has been an example of untiring energy; he
employed it as much in working, as in making a stand against prejudices.