"The only color print by Manet. The model was one of his friends, the painter Edmond André, who also appears in this costume in the painting entitled Bal masqué à l'Opéra (Washington, National Gallery of Art), which was rejected by the Salon jury. Manet had launched a competition among poets to write two verses to be inscribed beneath the image of his Polichinelle. He chose the alexandrines of Théodore de Banville (1823-1891), who was considered one of the most eminent poets of his time. In 1876, 8,000 copies of the lithograph were withdrawn, to be offered as a bonus to subscribers to the newspaper Le Temps. The censors thought they recognized a caricature of General Mac-Mahon, and forbade its distribution." (Source: INHA)