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An elderly man with a long beard looking at the viewer

On a tan background, short, light graphite lines describe the head of an elderly man who looks directly at the viewer. His face is calm and he levels a direct gaze at us with heavy lidded eyes, his irises highlighted with dramatic touches of white. Though the hair on his head is thin and closely cropped, a long wavy beard framed by a tall collar, flows from his chin down over his chest. In the lower right corner of the page, the artist has included a quick sketch of an ear.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.26
People
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, French (Paris, France 1834 - 1917 Paris, France)
After François Clouet, French (1510 - 1572)
Title
Head of a Bearded Old Man, after a Drawing in the Louvre by François Clouet
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1855
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297793

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite and white gouache on tan wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • stamp: l.l.: Vente signature stamp [L. 658] in red
  • stamp: l.r.: Atelier stamp [L. 657] in pink

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Fourth sale of the estate of Edgar Degas at the Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 2-4, 1919, lot 87d, sold]; [to Durand-Ruel, New York (1919-?), sold]; to Lillie P. Bliss, New York (?-1934), bequest; to Museum of Modern Art, New York (1934-1943), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Notes:
1. The drawing shared a frame with and was sold with four other drawings at the 1919 Degas estate sale (lots 87a-d).
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).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.26
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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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. 87d, repr. (sold in one frame with no. 29 and 3 other drawings)
  • Prints, Drawings, and Bronzes by Degas, checklist, The Grolier Club (New York, 1922), one of nos. 130-134
  • 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. 62
  • John Herron Art Institute, Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, exh. cat. (Indianapolis, IN, 1932), no. 38
  • The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1934), no. 28, repr.
  • 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. 25, fig. 63, p. 32

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
  • The Collection of Miss Lillie P. Bliss. Fourth Loan Exhibition., Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, 10/17/1931 - 12/15/1931
  • Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, 01/01/1932 - 01/31/1932

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