The Little Cavaliers

The Little Cavaliers is a striking print by Édouard Manet (French, 1832-1883), executed between 1867 and 1874, directly based on a composition attributed to the Spanish Golden Age master, Diego Velázquez (Spanish, 1599-1660). This piece belongs to a series of prints Manet created throughout his career, often serving as studies or interpretations of older artists he admired. The work exemplifies the profound influence of Spanish painting on 19th-century French art, a movement known as Hispanism that Manet championed, seeking to revitalize contemporary aesthetics through Baroque rigor and dramatic use of shadow.

Rather than a simple reproduction, this print is a complex technical reinterpretation. Manet utilized a combination of intaglio techniques, including etching, drypoint, and roulette, employing bitten tone to achieve the deep, velvety blacks and dramatic tonal gradations characteristic of Velázquez’s original canvas. The composition depicts a group of diminutive figures, possibly members of the Spanish court or children dressed in elaborate, historical costumes, rendered with an immediacy that belies the intricacy of the process.

The print was rendered on delicate ivory Japanese paper and then mounted onto a sturdier tan wove paper, a sophisticated practice known as chine collé. Produced in France, this print represents Manet’s intensive focus on graphic arts during the late 1860s and early 1870s, showcasing his effort to translate painterly textures into line and shadow. The resulting work remains a significant artifact in the history of prints. Today, many of Manet’s influential works are entering the public domain, but this specific impression is preserved as a core element of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.