Manet is the style for people who find the other classical options a little too soft. He painted with flat, frontal light and loose, confident strokes that refuse to over-explain themselves — no ornate props, no dramatic sky, just the subject against a warm dark ground, rendered with an almost modern honesty. That directness is exactly what makes it work for a pet: the framing sits close on head and shoulders, the paint texture stays visible and a little raw, and the whole thing reads less like a period costume portrait and more like something that could hang in a contemporary gallery next to work made yesterday. It's the most understated option here, and often the one people come back to after trying the louder styles — there's nothing between the viewer and the animal's actual expression. If Rembrandt is ceremony and Van Gogh is spectacle, Manet is presence: rich blacks, warm ochre, a portrait that trusts the subject to be interesting without any help from the background.