Mockery and jeering were unleashed so
vicious and vociferous that months ahead of its release, the studio braced for the family - friendly adventure to bomb spectacularly.
And indeed, the Dejeuner sur l'herbe, with Manet's brother, brother - in - law - to - be, and favorite model, Victorine, staring blandly out of the decor of Giorgione's venerated pastoral idyll, their elegant contemporary costume — or lack of it — making a
mockery of the «timeless» Raphaelesque composition, must have seemed as full of protest and constituted as destructive and
vicious a gesture as that of Marcel Duchamp when he painted a mustache on the Mona Lisa.