Sketch of seated Madonna holding the Christ child
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

On light tan paper, finely rendered graphite lines depict the Madonna seated facing the viewer with the Christ child lying across her lap. The naked child holds her breast and turns his head to look back at the viewer with a calm expression. Dressed in flowing robes, she holds him by the waist with one hand, and supports his head with her other hand which rests on her knee. She turns her head to the right and smiles slightly looking down at him.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.265
People
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, French (Paris, France 1834 - 1917 Paris, France)
Title
Virgin and Child, after a Painting in the Collection of Edmond Beaucousin, Paris, by a Follower of Leonardo da Vinci
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1857
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/296692

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 33.8 x 26 cm (13 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • stamp: l.l.: Vente signature stamp [L. 658] in red
  • stamp: verso, u.r.: Atelier stamp [L. 657] in red
  • inscription: verso, u.r. (above atelier stamp), blue crayon: 1766

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Fourth sale of the estate of Edgar Degas at the Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 2-4, 1919, lot 114b, sold]; [to Durand-Ruel, New York (1919--?), sold]; to Lillie P. Bliss, New York (?-1934), bequest; to Museum of Modern Art, New York (1934-?). [Durand-Ruel, New York (?-1946), sold, November 1946]; to Paul J. Sachs, Cambridge, MA (1946-1965), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1965.

Notes:
1. The drawing shared a frame with and was sold with three other drawings at the 1919 Degas estate sale (lots 114a-c). One of the other drawings (lot 114a) is a partial and promised gift to the Fogg Art Museum (2005.79).
2. Lillie P. Bliss passed away in 1931 and her bequest to the Museum of Modern Art was finalized 3 years late, according to the terms of her will (which called for an adequate endowment fund to be secured in that interval).
3. The drawing was bequeathed to the Museum of Modern Art by Lillie P. Bliss in 1934. Paul J. Sachs purchased the drawing from Durand-Ruel in 1946. It is unclear when the drawing passed from the Museum to Durand-Ruel and if it passed directly from one to the other.


Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.265
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Catalogue des tableaux, pastels et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier 4e vente, July 2-4, 1919, auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit (Paris, France, July 2 - July 4, 1919), no. 114b
  • The Museum of Modern Art, Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, exh. cat., The Plandome Press (New York, NY, 1931), no. 65
  • The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1934), no. 27
  • John Rewald, The History of Impressionism [1st ed.], The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1946), repr. p. 48
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Jean Sutherland Boggs, Degas at Harvard, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge and New Haven, 2005), cat. no. 50, fig. 56, p. 30
  • Musée d'Art moderne André Malraux, Ville du Havre, De Delacroix à Marquet: Donation Senn-Foulds, Dessins, exh. cat., Somogy Éditions d'Art (Paris, France, 2011), repr. p. 116 [in fig. 44 reproducing lot 114 from the 1919 Degas atelier sale]
  • Jane Munro, Degas: A Passion for Perfection, exh. cat., Fitzwilliam Museum and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 57, 227 note 49

Exhibition History

  • Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 05/17/1931 - 09/27/1931
  • Drawings from the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University (Collected by Paul J. Sachs), Century Club, New York, 05/12/1947 - 09/25/1947
  • French Drawings from the Fogg Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 03/28/1952 - 04/28/1952
  • An Exhibition of Drawings, Colby College, Miller Library, Waterville, 04/27/1956 - 05/23/1956

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu