Sandra Orienti declares, ""The Fifer" is one of Manet's most famous paintings, and it is also one of his most daring works: here ... can be found a synthesis of all that is most complex in his vocabulary." She points out that the band boy's uniform is painted in red, black, and white with decorations in dull gold. The figure and its dress contrasts with the vague, undefined background. The lad has no support for himself except himself. "[h]is form ... seems to create a double dimension, the first being the small figure of the boy, the second his eyes and the spectator's eyes meeting between the rather crudely painted eyelids."