The top hat and bottle in this undated still life recall Manet’s The Absinthe Drinker of 1859 (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen). It was the art dealer David Croal Thomson who sold it to the Galleries in 1923 for the relatively the modest sum of £175. Despite the fact the painting came with a complete provenance (ownership) history, the signature is a forgery. The painting was confirmed as a fake by the Dutch conservator Martin de Wild (1899 – 1969) who carried out a pigment test in the early 1930s.