How does this artwork elucidate its Background?
Eugène Pertuiset was a celebrated lion hunter who enjoyed considerable media attention and fame during the Second French Empire. In addition to being a big-game hunter, he was an engineer, collector of weapons and paintings, and was commissioned in 1873 by the Republic of Chile to lead an exploration of Tierra del Fuego. After crossing the Strait of Magellan, he made several expeditions into the interior, discovered coal deposits on Dawson Island and obtained a concession to establish a colony, which he intended to populate with settlers from France; however, the Chilean government withdrew from the project. Returning to Paris, he wrote colorful accounts of his adventures. 
Pertuiset posed for Manet on the Boulevard de Clichy in 1880, with the monumental portrait completed in 1881. Manet had long been acquainted with Eugène Pertuiset, who had purchased several of his paintings, and had found Pertuiset's half-heroic, half-burlesque character to be amusing. For his part, Pertuiset was also an amateur artist, and in 1884 submitted his own version of the portrait, titled The Lion Hunt, which was exhibited at the new Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1884.
Republic of Chile Chile Pertuiset Dawson Island Strait of Magellan Second French Empire Boulevard de Clichy Tierra del Fuego Société des Artistes Indépendants