Édouard DETAILLE (Paris, 1848 - Paris, 1912) Portrait of the journalist Albert Wolff, 1877 Oil on panel. Signed, dated and dedicated lower left: "À MON AMI A. WOLFF / FOND MEMORY / EDOUARD DETAILLE / 1877 ". 21 x 12,5 cm When Édouard Detaille painted the portrait of Albert Wolff (1835-1891) in 1877, the critic was already one of the most eminent figures of the Parisian press. Born in Cologne under the name of Abraham Wolff, he came to Paris in 1857 as a temporary correspondent for the Augsburg Gazette, and having decided to stay there, this polygrapher had been Alexandre Dumas' secretary, then a journalist in many periodicals, including Le Gaulois, Le Charivari and soon Le Figaro. Author of boulevard chronicles, plays and various works, Wolff was soon recognized as the most influential and incisive art critic of the daily press. When Bastien-Lepage attacks Wolff's portrait, Wolff tells him: "Don't flatter me! I know that I am above average in ugliness. Prove to me at least that you don't take me for a fool, and make me as I am without a concession. If Manet and Bastien-Lepage respect this vow, but choose a half-darkness that is conducive to some attenuation of this singular physique, Detaille opts for full light. One must thus appreciate the way in which the painter of military exactitude does not shrink from the challenge and restores this man with an impressive reputation and a thankless physique in a small painting on wood, as skilful as it is delicate.