A red chalk drawing of a crouching child, recently identified in a private Italian collection, has been attributed to the French modernist artist Édouard Manet by an art historian specializing in 17th- to 19th-century French art.

Emily Beeny, chief curator of the Legion of Honor at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, recognized the drawing’s significance after receiving a photograph from her colleague Francesco Baccanelli, who discovered the piece during a visit to a lesser-known collection in northern Italy. "It just felt like: ‘Oh gosh, that’s exciting,’” Beeny said, noting that while many works are proposed as Manet’s, this was the first in years to evoke an immediate sense of recognition.

The drawing, which measures approximately 20.5 by 17.5 centimeters (8 by 7 inches), depicts a child in a crouching position reminiscent of the figure seen in Manet’s painting The Old Musician, a work that sought to humanize homeless and marginalized individuals. Beeny and Baccanelli have suggested the child may be a girl around six years old, possibly the same figure portrayed in the finished version of The Old Musician. The drawing is squared for transfer to canvas, yet no corresponding painting has been identified.

Stylistically, the drawing aligns with Manet’s red chalk life studies from the 1850s and 1860s, which were influenced by Renaissance draughtsmanship observed during the artist’s time in Florence. Beeny highlighted particular features, including “abrupt transitions between light and shadow” and distinctive “plump, tapered fingers,” as consistent with Manet’s known techniques. Ultraviolet analysis further confirmed the attribution by revealing a faded studio stamp in the lower right corner.

Baccanelli, who specializes in 17th- and 18th-century art from the Lombardy and Veneto regions, noted that the drawing had an inscription on its reverse attributing it to Manet, though it had not previously been examined by art historians. He added, “The more I studied it, the more convinced I became that it was indeed a work by Manet.”

The drawing’s provenance traces back to two sales in the 1930s, first in Germany and later in Switzerland, but it did not appear in any scholarly publications on Manet during that period. Beeny and Baccanelli plan to publish their findings in the upcoming October issue of the Burlington Magazine.

Regarding the identity of the subject, they also reference Alexandre, a youth employed by Manet in the late 1850s to assist with brushes and palettes who occasionally posed for the artist. However, the child in the drawing appears female, and its precise model remains uncertain. Beeny expressed hope that the work will be included in the next edition of Manet’s catalogue raisonné published by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, which has yet to study the drawing.

For now, the purpose behind the drawing and its early history remain unclear, leaving the newly attributed Manet piece a compelling enigma within the artist’s oeuvre.