Although Manet often painted himself into his scenes, this self-portrait is one of only two of just the artist himself. The painting, which was painted in the style of Diego Velazquez self-portrait in Las Meninas, portrays the artist in a brown coat and cap, paint brush and palette in hand. Although the painting shows the brush in the left hand, we can assume that it was mirror image, as Manet was right handed. X-ray analysis of this work has shown that Manet painted over a portrait of his wife, Suzanne Leenhoff (Manet), in profile. This is the only self-portrait in which Manet depicted himself as an artist, as he has included himself in many of his other paintings, albeit as a figure in the scene, as in Music in the Tuileries and The Ball of the Opera.