This delightful little paintingmeasuring only 16.5cm x 21.5cmhas a funny story behind its origins.

In 1880a man named Charles Ephrussi purchased A Bunch of Asparagus from Manet. Manet charged the painting at eight hundred francsbut was sent one thousand francs by Ephrussi. Maneta man with a quick witpainted this picture of a lone spear of asparagusand sent it to Ephrussi with a note that read"there was one missing from your bunch". The story is one that humanises Manetthat makes him a real person who had to work for a livingsold his paintingsbut who also had a sense of humour.

All throughout the 1880'sManet would send small paintings to his friends as giftsand they would almost always include comical little notes or tender addresses from the artist. The lone asparagus spear in this painting lays on the same marble worktop that the 'mother' paintingA Bunch of Asparagusis depicted upon. It is not a still life paintingbut rather a joke from the artist to his patronor a short break between larger works. Even soit is beautifully painted. The counter that it lays upon contains the characteristic grey striations of white marblewhile the asparagus spear itself is almost teetering on the edgea mere inch from falling to the floorwhile the end of the spear casts a pale shadow on the marble's edge.

The asparagus itself is a perfect specimen. Straight and pale along the shaftwhile the tip is a deep greenit promises to be tender and succulent. The colours of the asparagus are so pale that they would blend into to marblerendering the spear almost invisibleif it were not for the overhanging endcasting its shadow and letting itself be seen. This small detail gives a slight truth to the story behind the creation of the painting; it would be easy to imagine a lone spear becoming lost on the marble sideinvisible until one moved in for a closer lookgiving a certain intimacy to the smalllovingly rendered painting.