French Realist/Impressionist painter. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. Before he died in 1883 at age 51 from complications from syphilis and rheumatism, Manet was influencing other painters as he moved from a transgressive style in the 1860s to Impressionism in the 1870s and from historical and religious subjects to modern life and what he could capture “plein air” as influenced by Berthe Morisot. Birthplace: Paris, France Location of death: Paris, France Cause of death: Syphilis Remains: Buried, Cimetir. It is fascinating that Manet’s daily struggle against pain and poor coordination may have led his art to become one of the most significant of modern times, opening the way to XXth century avant-gardes, along with another victim of syphilis, Paul Gauguin (1848–1903). Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection. He was only 51 years of age. The first recorded outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion. We might begin with the syphilis that caused Manet’s amputated leg and brought about his early death at 51. AKA Édouard Manet. Manet died eleven days after the amputation of his left foot due to gangrene, from complications of syphilis and rheumatism, which had been so bad as to cause partial paralysis in the years leading up to his death. There are four stages of syphilis: the primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary stages.
Manet is often considered “the bridge between Realism and Impressionism.” Manet spent the last years of his life painting, not in the open air, as did so many Impressionists, but indoors. It is treatable in the early stages, but without treatment, it can lead to disability, neurological disorders, and even death. His mother, Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, was the daughter of a diplomat and goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince Charles Bernadotte, from whom the Swedish monarchs are descended. He was not well, perhaps suffering from locomotor ataxia, a side effect of syphilis. Manet’s picture, it is well known, is a reworking of a composition detail of Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving of Raphael’s lost The Judgment of Paris. Syphilis is a curable sexually transmitted disease caused by the Treponema pallidum spirochete.The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always by sexual contact, although there are examples of congenital syphilis via transmission from mother to child in utero.
painting – the father of Manet – also was ill with syphilis, while at the time of his posing for the painting, he already was in the terminal stage of the disease; more specifically, he was in the advanced stage of general paresis, with certain elements of tabes dorsalis.