Stéphane Mallarmé commented "In the picture, the masks are no more than a break from the several tons of fresh bouquets, the possible monotony of the background of black clothes". It was adjudged to be too naturalist and so was refused by the 1874 Paris Salon. It later belonged to the famous opera singer Jean-Baptiste Faure, a major collector of Manet's works. He owned it until he was 67.
