Welcome to Erin Mankie's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

When an artist begins painting, I often wonder what inspired them.

Whatever their motivation, profit fits into the equation for many.

After all, a professional painter's job is to paint, just like a carpenter or a farmer

laboring away on something they can sell.

He was at the latter stages of life, his celebrity making him highly sought after for such

work.

And as for Charles, he was in the energetic stage of art collecting.

Charles, who was also an enthusiastic art critic at the time, became enamored with the

impressionist style of art at the tender age of 31, so he commissioned a series of paintings

from artistic geniuses across Europe.

All backed by the significant capital of his family business.

Along with the piece that he would commission from Manet, Charles also purchased another

40 or so works of art from legends like Pizarro, Renoir, De Ga, and Monet.

His business dealings must have been favorable too because Renoir even saw fit to include

Charles, wearing a stylish top hat in his work Luncheon of the Boating Party.

At the time of the commission, Manet had already become something of a mainstay on the artistic

...