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Full length portrait of a seated man looking left

Black chalk lines on light tan paper describe a man seated on a wooden folding chair. Seen from slightly above, the man is shown in three quarter profile facing left and looking slightly downward. Dark, textured lines indicate his full beard and shock of thick hair, as well as the dark vest he wears over his shirt. His arms are crossed tightly in front of his chest, and his left foot is crossed in front of his right. A grid of lightly sketched chalk lines is superimposed across the picture.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.256
People
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, French (Paris, France 1834 - 1917 Paris, France)
Title
Study for "Diego Martelli"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1879
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/296781

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Charcoal heightened with white chalk on blue-gray wove paper, discolored to tan, squared in charcoal
Dimensions
45.3 x 28.8 cm (17 13/16 x 11 5/16 in.)
frame: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • stamp: l.l.: Vente signature stamp [L. 658] in red

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Atelier Degas, [sold at Vente III, no. 344b, 1919]. [César M. de Hauke], sold to Paul J. Sachs, 1930, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1965.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.256
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • "Degas Drawings: Jacques Seligmann Galleries", Art News (November 1, 1930), vol. XXIX, no. 5, p. 10
  • Degas, checklist, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1931), no. 17a
  • Agnes Mongan, "Portrait Studies by Degas in American Collections", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, May 1932), vol. 1, no. 4, p. 68; fig. 9
  • Agnes Mongan and Paul J. Sachs, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1940), vol. 1, cat. no. 672, fig. 348
  • Masterpieces of 19th and 20th Century French Drawing from the Fogg Museum..., brochure, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI, 1941), checklist no. 24
  • Camille Mauclair, Edgar Degas, Hyperion Press (New York, NY, 1945), repr. p. 17
  • James Watrous, The Craft of Old-Master Drawings, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI, 1957), pp. 134 and 135, repr.
  • Jean Sutherland Boggs, Drawings by Degas, exh. cat., City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis, MO, 1966), p. 140
  • Elizabeth Holt, ed., From the classicists to the impressionists; a documentary history of art and architecture in the 19th century, Anchor Books (Garden City, NY, 1966), pl. 51
  • Gordon C. Aymar, The Art of Portrait Painting, Chilton Book Company (Philadelphia, PA, 1967), p. 144, pl. 70
  • Barbara S. Shapiro, Edgar Degas: the Reluctant Impressionist, exh. cat., Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA, 1974), no. 84
  • Eduard Hüttinger, Degas, Crown Publishers Inc. (New York, NY, 1977), repr. p. 23
  • Ronald Pickvance, Degas 1879: Paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture from around 100 years ago in the context of his earlier and later works, exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1979), cat. 59, repr.
  • Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski and Thea Jirat-Wasiutynski, "The Uses of Charcoal in Drawing", Arts Magazine (October 1980), vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 128-135, fig. 5, pp. 129 and 131
  • Mark M. Johnson, Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, 1980), p. 59, fig. 72
  • Dr. Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Artist Within, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 1986), p. 194; fig. 17-18
  • Richard Thomson, The Private Degas, exh. cat., Arts Council of Great Britain, London (London, England, 1987), cat. 61; p. 30, fig. 29
  • Felix Baumann and Marianne Karabelnik, Degas: Die Portraits, exh. cat., Merrell Holberton / Kunsthaus Zurich (London, England and Zürich, Switzerland, 1994), no. 148
  • 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. 41, fig. 40 (color), pp. 34, 83

Exhibition History

  • Exhibition of Drawings by Degas, Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, 10/27/1930 - 11/15/1930
  • Degas, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/09/1931 - 05/30/1931
  • Drawings by Degas, City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, 01/01/1932 - 12/31/1932
  • Great Modern French Drawings, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences Museum, Brooklyn, 01/01/1939 - 03/12/1939
  • Masterpieces of 19th and 20th Century French Drawing from the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University and the Museum of Modern Art of New York City, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 05/01/1941 - 06/01/1941
  • Edgar Degas Bronzes, Drawings, Pastels, Buchholz Gallery, New York, 01/03/1945 - 01/27/1945
  • 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
  • Degas: Loan exhibition, for the Benefit of the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York, Inc., Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York, 04/07/1960 - 05/07/1960
  • Edgar Degas: the Reluctant Impressionist, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 06/19/1974 - 09/15/1974
  • Degas 1879, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 08/13/1979 - 09/30/1979
  • The Private Degas, The Whitworth Art Gallery, 01/17/1987 - 02/28/1987; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 03/14/1987 - 05/03/1987
  • Degas: the Portraits, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, 12/02/1994 - 03/05/1995; Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, 03/18/1995 - 06/18/1995
  • Degas at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2005 - 11/27/2005

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