Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000332About the Artwork
Degas traveled to Florence, Italy, in July 1858, where he made this sheet of studies. The featured imagery is fragmented and dissociated, suggesting the young artist's engagement with art of the past. The refined female head drawn at center in graphite was copied from a drawing then attributed to Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Gallery's collection. Other sketches record Degas's responses to Florentine sculpture. At upper right, he sketched an informal portrait of his cousin Giulia Bellelli, probably from life.
Inscriptions
Inscribed, lower left, in graphite: Flor. 1857; stamped, lower left, in red ink: artist’s stamp [Lugt 658]; verso, in red ink: estate stamp [Lugt 657]
Provenance
1858 - 1917: Studio of the artist 1917-1919: Estate of Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Paris 1919: (his fourth sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 2-4, 1919, no. 74b, sold to Nunès) 1919-?: (Galerie Nunès et Fiquet, Paris) after 1919-by 1931: Private collection by 1950-1951: (Victor D. Spark, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1951-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). 19th and 20th Century Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 24, 1965). French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966). Ingres & Delacroix through Degas & Puvis de Chavannes: The Figure in French Art, 1800–1870. Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (May 20-June 28, 1975). Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983). The Private Degas. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-February 28, 1987); Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge CB2 1RB (March 17-May 3, 1987). Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991). French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). Degas: A Passion for Perfection. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (organizer) (February 11-May 20, 2018). Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
- Date
- 1858
- Medium
- graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1951.430
More by Edgar Degas in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000332
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