Édouard Manet
(1832 - 1883)
On January 1, 1867, Zola published in La Revue du XIXe siecle a second important article on Manet. "What a splendid New Year's present," wrote Manet, thanking him. The following year he expressed his gratitude to the writer by painting this portrait and presenting it to him. Zola posed for the painting in Manet's studio in the rue Guyot, but he is shown working at his desk in his own surroundings. Manet has pinned up on the wall a reproduction of Olympia and a Japanese print; there is also a Japanese screen. The picture radiates an astonishing freshness, and, as with Degas's portrait of Duranty or Cezanne's of Gustave Geffroy, one feels that the artist is in sympathy with his subject.
https://www.manet.org/portrait-of-emlie-zola.jsp
Portrait of Emile Zola
1868
Oil on canvas
146.5 x 114 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/emile-zola-713
Of his experience as a sitter, Zola wrote in L'Evinement illustre, May 10, 1868:
I remember posing for hours on end.With limbs numb from remaining motionless and my eyes weary from staring at the light, the same thoughts kept murmuring in the back of my mind. The foolish chatter one hears everywhere, the lies of some and the platitudes of others, all that human noise that flows idly by like dirty water, was far away. It seemed to me that I had left the earth for a higher sphere of truth, and I was filled with pity and disdain for the poor wretches stumbling along down below.
Now and again, half-dozing off as I sat there, I looked at the artist standing at his easel, his features taut, his eyes bright, absorbed in his work. He had forgotten me; he no longer realized that I was there.