Signature

Signature is rarely sufficient for authenticating a painting, signatures must be checked, but results must be carefully placed in the correct context. A signature is only one element, and not a determining one, in the process of authentication.

Toréador saluant, tambour de basque. Oil on vellum, painted in 1879. Signed "Manet" on lower right.

Manet also used the signature "ed. Manet"--abbreviating his first name. This is most common on etchings and drawings but can also be found on paintings. Manet's signature was usually pretty small and understated.

Le Printemps, an oil on canvas. Signed and dated "manet 1881" in the lower left.

"Quatre personnages au théâtre". Painted in 1880, brush and India ink on paper. Signed with initials "E.M." on the lower right.

Édouard Manet (1832 - 1883) generally signed his paintings with his surname "Manet." His signature was written in a swift cursive that slightly varied from painting to painting.

Oil on canvas "Jeune femme au livre" was painted in 1875. It is stamped with the initials 'E.M.' on the lower right.

His signatures were not always incredibly crisp or legible.

He did at times include the date.