Jacques-Emile Blanche lived near Dieppe and was a friend of Degas, Manet and Renoir. However, he also made frequent visits to England, where he painted and exhibited and was well known in artistic and society circles. This is a portrait of the British painter Charles Conder, who was greatly interested in contemporary French art. Conder befriended Toulouse-Lautrec who helped him obtain an exhibition in Paris. Blanche first met Conder in Paris, but they became friends in 1895 when they both spent the summer in Dieppe. This portrait, which captures his flamboyant character, was painted in Conder's house in London. (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blanche-charles-conder-n05754) The story goes that as a struggling 20-year-old Brtish artist living in Australia and short of cash, Conder paid his landlady through sexual means, catching syphilis in the process, which plagued him in later life. Shown here at age 36, just four years before he died, his body language reflects his sensitivity about the origins of his condition. (http://sociallearningcommunity.com/10-lessons-body-language-belle-epoque-artist-jacques-emile-blanche/)