Reff, Theodore - Degas, The Artist Mind

D E G A S : The Artists Mind
The Artists Mind

THEODORE
REFF
T he Metropolitan Museum of Art

Harper 8c Row, Publishers
E a r li e r v e r s io n s o f s o m e o f th e e s s a y s in th is b o o k w e re
p u b li s h e d a s fo llo w s: M a rc h 1971, A R T n e w s , T h e
B u tte rfly a n d th e O ld O x ," T h e o d o r e R e ff; S e p te m b e r
a n d O c to b e r 1970, B u r lin g to n M a g a z in e , " D e g a s a n d
th e L it e r a tu r e o f H is T im e " ; S e p te m b e r 1972, A rt
B u lle tin , D e g a s s T a b le a u d e G e n r e '" ; A u tu m n 1970,
v o l. X X X III, A r t Q u a rterly , D e g a s 's S c u lp t u r e , 18801884."
Designed by Peter O ldenburg. Type set by Custom C om posi

tion; printing by the Press o f A. Colish; binding by Publishers
Book Bindery.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United S tates of America.
No p art o f this book m ay be used o r reproduced in any
m an n er w hatsoever w ithout w ritten perm ission except in the
case o f brief q u otations em bodied in critical articles and
reviews.
Published sim ultaneously in C anada by Fitzhenry & W hite
side, Lim ited, Toronto
C o p y r ig h t (c) 1976 T h e M e tro p o lita n M u s e u m o f A rt
LIBRARY OF CONG RESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Reff, Theodore.
Degas: the artist's m ind.
B ibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Degas, H ilaire G erm ain E dgar, 1834-1917.
ND553.D3R38
ISBN 0-87099-146-9
759.4
75-45190
fo r Lisa and Jonathan

though they would have preferred
a longer fa th er and a shorter book
Contents
In tro d u ctio n
I.
T he B utterfly a n d th e O ld Ox
II. T h ree G re a t D ra ftsm e n "

III. P ictu res w ith in P ictu re s
IV. T he A rtist a n d th e W riter
V. "M y G en re P a in tin g
VI. To M ake S c u lp tu re M o d ern
V II. T he A rtist as T ech n ician
9
15
37
90
147
200
239
270
N otes
305
In d e x
340
INTRODUCTION
I n The N ew Painting, a p a m p h le t p u b lish ed in 1876 in d efen se o f R ealist

an d Im p ressio n ist ten d en cies in recen t art, the critic D u ran ty a ttrib u ted
m o st of the im p o rta n t ideas un d erly in g them to th e in tellectual pow er
an d originality of Degas. T he series of new ideas w as fo rm ed above
all in th e m ind of a d ra ftsm a n , h e w rote, a m an of the rare st talen t
and th e ra re st intellect,1 an d th ere w as no d o u b t w hom he m eant.
A lthough his sta te m e n t can h ard ly be tak en literally, it does testify to
th e esteem in w hich Degas w as held, n o t only as a p ain ter, b u t as a
th in k er w ho h ad c reated new m e a n s of p ictorial expression a p p ro p ria te
to th e new form s o f u rb a n society. H e h ad already im p ressed D uranty
as an artist of rare intelligence, p reo ccu p ied w ith ideas, w hich seem ed
stran g e to m ost o f his co lleag u es,2 an d in this resp ect he still seem s
th e m ost interestin g m in d am ong them . Not necessarily th e m o st u n i
v ersalM onet h ad a m o re p ro fo u n d feeling for n atu re, P issarro a
sh rew d er u n d e rsta n d in g of history, C zanne a m ore com plex sense of
s tru c tu re b u t surely th e o n e best p re p a re d by u p b rin g in g a n d ed u catio n
to ap p reciate th e play of ideas and th e one m o st d raw n by n atu ral
inclination to fo rm u late th em effectively. This is w hy his ju d g m e n ts on
a rt and o th er artists, th o se cleverly fo rm ed m ots of his, w ere highly
regarded and feared in his lifetim e, an d w hy his letters reveal a sim ple
eloquence th a t led G eorge M oore, in an expansive m om ent, to call th em
the m ost m arvello u s collection o f letters in lite ra tu re .3 it is also w hy
his n o tebooks con tain so m an y in terestin g o b serv atio n s an d theoretical
statem en ts, so m an y su rp risin g literary q u o ta tio n s an d d rafts of poetry,
an d w hy his carefully w ro u g h t so n n ets convinced Valry th a t he could
have been, if he h a d given h im self w holly to it, a m o st re m a rk a b le p o et.4
Above all, it is w hy his pain tin g s an d p astels, his draw ings an d prints,
9
10
Degas: The A rtists M ind
even his photographs, reveal such ingenious pictorial strategies and

technical innovations, such know ing calculations of visual effect, that
Valry w as forced to conclude: Art, for him, w as sim ply a series of
problem s in a m ore subtle kind of m athem atics th an the real one, a kind
th at no one has ever been able to expound, an d w hose existence is
know n to very few .5
If this is the m ost interesting side of D egass achievem ent, it is also
the m ost difficult to discuss in term s m ore specific than those Valry
em ployed, and in fact it rarely has been. The literature on him , previ
ously dom inated by personal m em oirs and ra th e r uncritical biographies
inspired by the force of his rem arkable personality, now consists largely
of oeuvre catalogues and m onographs devoted to one aspect of his rich
production. Thus we have, on the one hand, thorough com pilations of
his paintings and pastels (Lemoisne), his etchings and lithographs
(Adhmar), his m onotypes (Janis, Cachin), his sculpture (Rewald), and
his notebooks (Red); and on the oth er hand, detailed studies of his
p ortraits (Boggs), his ballet subjects (Browse), his technical experim ents
(Rouart), and his copies o f old er art (Reff); while the publications con
cerned with his art as a whole are, despite their value as syntheses, cither
outm oded by su b seq u en t research (Jam ot, M anson) or too broadly
conceived to take sufficient account of it (Lemoisne, C abanne).6 Conse
quently, the one artist in the Im pressionist group w ho was fascinated
by ideas and consciously based his w ork on them , the one w ho con
fessed, W hat I do is the result of reflection and study of the great
m asters; of inspiration, spontaneity, tem p eram en t I know nothing,7 is
the one w hose art has been least understood from this point of view,
w hereas th at of his colleagues M anet and Czanne, long considered too
superficial or too purely visual to h arb o r ideas, has been the subject
of penetrating discussions of its intellectual content.
The essays in the presen t volum e can hardly be said to fill th at large
void in Degas studies, b u t they do span it in several directions by ex
am ining som e essential and generally neglected features of his art,
am ong them his ingenuity and wit in em ploying m etaphorical m otifs
such as the w indow , the m irror, and the picture w ithin the picture; his
pow er of im agination in creating psychologically com pelling com posi
tions such as Sulking and Interior; and his sophistication in devising
Introduction
11
a scu lp tu ral idiom at once form al an d vern acu lar, as in th e Little Dancer
o f Fourteen Years. Inevitably these essays are also co n cern ed w ith issues
th a t lead fu rth er afield, su ch as th e sources o f his th eories o f n atu ralistic
description and physiognom ic ex p ressio n an d th eir relation to co n te m
p o rary thought; his co n tacts w ith som e of th e leading novelists an d poets
of his tim e and his efforts to illu strate o r d raw in sp iratio n fro m th eir
w orks; an d the affinities of th e la tte r w ith his ow n w ork, w hich u n d e r
w ent the sam e d ev elo p m en t from R om anticism th ro u g h N atu ralism to
Sym bolism at a b o u t th e sam e tim e. T h ro u g h o u t the essays o n e m ore
specific them e recurs, the diverse co n n ectio n s betw een D egass art, th e
m ost cosm opolitan o f any in th e Im p ressio n ist group, an d th a t of o th er
nineteenth-century artists, am o n g th em th e th ree h e co n sid ered his
greatest predecesso rs (Ingres, D elacroix, an d D aum ier), th e one he w as
closest to in tem p e ra m e n t a n d aesth etic ideal (W histler), a n d others
w hose w ork directly influenced o r w as influenced by his ow n, both in
F ran ce (M anet, G auguin) a n d o u tsid e it (Millais, Tissot). T hus the em
p hasis is on his artistic an d literary culture, on his co n tac t w ith ad v an ced
aesthetic ideas, an d on those su p rem ely in tellectual qualities of his art
w hich already m ad e it a p p a re n t to H u y sm an s in 1880 th a t this artist
is the g reatest we have to d ay in F ran ce, in th e w ay th a t B audelaire
is th e poetic genius o f the n in ete en th c e n tu ry and F la u b ert's S en ti
m ental E ducation is th e m asterp iece o f th e m odern n ovel. 8
This th em atic u nity is n eith e r accid en tal n o r plan n ed , b u t ra th e r has
em erged as a co n seq u en ce o f a con tin u in g effort to discover w h at is
u n iq u e in D egass artistic th o u g h t by relatin g it as fully as possible to
w h at preced ed an d su rro u n d e d it. The resu lt o f this effort w as a series
o f articles p u b lish ed betw een 1968 a n d 1972 in art-historical jo u rn als,
of w hich the p resen t essays are th o ro u g h ly revised versions, excep t for
th e second one, w hich w as w ritten fo r this volum e. The others, rep rin te d
w ith the kind perm issio n o f th e ir editors, ap p e a re d as follows: the first
in A rt N ews, 1971; th e th ird in th e M etropolitan M useum Journal, 1968;
th e fo u rth in The B urlington Magazine, 1970; th e fifth in The A rt Bulletin,
1972; th e sixth in The A rt Quarterly, 1970; th e sev en th in th e M etropolitan
M useum Journal, 1971. It is b oth ap p ro p ria te a n d gratifying th a t they
are p u blished now in th e ir revised fo rm s by th e M etropolitan M useum ,
w here they will reach a larger, less specialized audience; n o t only be
12
cau se tw o o f th em first a p p e ared in the M u seu m s Journal, b u t b ecause

its collection o f w orks by Degas is so im pressive in qu ality an d size th a t
it ran k s second only to th e one in th e Louvre.
B o t h i n w riting th ese essays an d in revising them , I have been aided
by m any scholars, cu rato rs, dealers, and collectors, w hose specific co n
trib u tio n s are acknow ledged in the footnotes; h ere I w ould like to th an k
those w ho have help ed in m o re general w ays. As alw ays, H lne an d
Jean A dhm ar m ad e available th e full reso urces o f th eir in stitu tio n s, the
M use de lIm p ressio n n ism e a n d the C abinet d es E stam pes. At the latter,
N icole Villa w as a co n stan t so u rce o f assistance, as w as G enevive
M onnier at the C abinet des D essins. I w as also fo rtu n a te in h aving the
co o peratio n of C harles D urand-R uel an d th e late Denis R ouart, key
figures in Degas studies. In th is country, Beverly C arter, secretary of the
Paul M ellon C ollection, M. Roy Fisher, d irecto r of resea rc h at W ildenstein an d Co., an d Paul R ew ald, head of th e Im p ressio n ist p ainting
d e p a rtm e n t at S o th eb y Parke B ernet, Inc., w ere m o st helpful in p ro v id
ing p h o to g ra p h s and info rm atio n . At C olum bia U niversity, m y colleague
Allen Staley w as an astu te re a d e r of som e of th e essays, a n d m y stu d en t
E lizabeth S treich er an excellent research assistan t. And at th e M etro
politan M useum , A nne M acD ougall P reuss a n d Leon W ilson read the
w hole m an u sc rip t w ith ex p ert care a n d h elp ed im prove it in countless
ways. I am also g ratefu l to th e Jo h n Sim on G uggenheim M em orial
F o u n d atio n for fellow ships th a t enabled m e to u n d e rta k e research
abroad in 1967 an d 1975.
D E G A S : T h e A rtists M ind
The Butterfly and

the Old Ox
.i^ L s far as painting is concerned, W histler assured the young Aus

trian who had com e to Paris to choose w orks for an exhibition, there
is only Degas and m yself. 1 The im pudence may have been W histlers
alone, but the sense of prid e and independence th at inform ed it were
also Degas's. In any survey of their period these two stand out as perhaps
the m ost original and intransigent personalities in the visual arts. Re
now ned and often feared for their penetrating, frequently sarcastic wit,
their lofty disdain of dealers1, critics, an d patrons, their avoidance of any
label o r school th a t m ight restrict th eir freedom of action, they rep re
sented the very type of indep en d en t artist of the later nineteenth century.
It is rem arkable how clearly they already ap p ear as such in self-portraits
painted relatively early in their careers [1, 2]. Degas, recalling the aristo
cratic figures by Van Dyck th at he had adm ired in Italy,2 presents him self
as a gentlem an of leisure, worldly and aloof, one h and placed n o n ch a
lantly in a pocket, the o th er holding a silk h at and gloves. W histler,
relying instead on the self-portraits of his idol Velazquez,3 assum es the
pose of an artist at work, b u t despite his sim ple sm ock and beret, he
looks no less fastidious or conscious of his superiority. Degas him self
later im plied as m uch w hen he linked M onsieur W histler" w ith Dela
croix and Puvis de C havannes as artists who were grands seigneurs.4
Ultimately, it was this fundam en tal sim ilarity of tem p eram en t th at sus
tained their long friendship, from its origin in the M anet circle around
1860, w hen both men were in their m id-twenties, to W histlers death
m ore than forty years later; this affinity, too, th a t inspired the m any
striking sim ilarities in their conception and practice of art.
15
16
A lthough no t very fully d o cu m en ted , th eir respect for each o th e r an d

ad m iratio n fo r each o th e r's w ork can be gleaned from a n u m b e r of
sources. In letters to T issot an d to D u ran d -R uels agent in L ondon, Degas
referred in 1873 to th at fellow W histler [w ho] h as really hit on som e
thing in th o se views o f th e sea an d w ater th a t he show ed m e, an d again
in 1875 to "W histler, for w hom I have so m u ch a d m iratio n . 5 R eporting
to his friend H enri R o u art a b o u t the S alon o f 1882, he singled o u t the
A rrangem ent in Black, No. 5: Lady M eux for ex ceptional praise: An
astonishing W histler, overly refined, b u t o f a q u ality !6 And in u n p u b
lished notes to W histler him self, one d atin g from th e 1880s, th e o th er
from the follow ing decade, he in tro d u c e d a great collector, m ad a b o u t
the English school, w ho m u st be one o f yo u r greatest ad m ire rs, and,
1.
Degas, SelfPortrait, 1863
1865. Oil on
canvas.
Fundaâo
Calouste
Gulbenkian,
Lisbon
The B u tterfly a n d the O ld Ox
17
as a n u n u s u a l g e stu re o f frie n d sh ip , s e n t h is c o lle ag u e p ro o fs o f a

p o rtra it p h o to g ra p h h e h a d ta k e n o f h im .7 M o re rev e a lin g , p e rh a p s , is
a le tte r to W h is tle r fro m th e ir m u tu a l frie n d M alla rm , w ritte n sh o rtly
a fte r th e A rra n g e m e n t in G ray a n d B la ck, No. 1: The A r tis ts M o th e r w as
a c q u ire d by th e F re n c h g o v e rn m e n t in 1891: I w o u ld h a v e lik e d y o u
to h e a r D egas s p e a k w ith th e g re a te s t sin c e rity , y e s te rd a y e v en in g , re
tu rn in g fro m d in n e r, o n h is a d m ira tio n fo r th e P o rtra it o f M y M o th e r. 8
F o r h is p a rt, W h is tle r w a s e q u a lly e n th u s ia s tic a b o u t th e w o rk o f
D egas. T h e p a in te r J a c q u e s -E m ile B la n c h e re c a lle d h a v in g se e n W h istle r
at th e Im p re s s io n is t e x h ib itio n o f 1881, a d m irin g th e L ittle D a n c e r o f
F o u rteen Years [157] in a ty p ica lly e x tra v a g a n t m a n n e r: H e w a s w ie ld
in g a p a in te r s b a m b o o m a h lstic k in s te a d o f a w a lk in g stic k ; e m ittin g
2.
Whistler, Arrangem ent in
Gray: Self-Portrait,
1871-1873. Oil on canvas.
Detroit Institute of Arts,
bequest of Henry G.
Stevens in memory of
Ellen P. and Mary M.
Stevens
18
piercing cries; gesticulating before th e glass case th a t co n tain ed th e wax

figurine. 9 On his visits to Paris he n ev er failed to see the latest exhibition
of D egass w ork or to pay his resp ects to the m a ster him self. It is rare
these days th a t I have th e pleasu re of seeing y o u , he w rote in a n o th e r
u n p u b lish e d letter of the 1880s, alth o u g h I never p ass th ro u g h Paris
w ithout m an y efforts to find you. 10 In a sim ilar letter, p ro b ab ly w ritten
a decade later, in a m ore p essim istic m ood, h e lam en ted th eir less
freq u en t contacts: So o n e no lo n g er crosses the C hannel for lunch,
Degas, m y old friend? Decidedly, then, it is only I w ho am still cu rio u s. 11
D espite this grow ing sep aratio n , W histler c o n tin u ed loyally to encourage
oth ers to ap p reciate his colleagues art; fo r behind m ost of th e early
p u rch ases in E ngland o f w orks by D egasby lo n id es, Sickert, Mrs. tJnw in, Sir W illiam E den, o r W illiam B urrellone can trace a connection
w ith W histler. 12 And Degas in tu rn fo rm ed a sm all bu t very fine collec
tion of W histlers p rin ts, n otably the m asterfu l etchings in The Tham es
Set, of w hich h e h a d su p e rb p ro o fs.13
T here w ere, it is true, also im p o rta n t differences betw een th e brilliant,
belligerent, freq u en tly insecure A m erican ex patriate, w ho so u g h t fam e
even at th e price o f notoriety, a n d th e conservative, increasingly seclu d ed
F ren ch m an of bourgeois origin, w hose am b itio n w as to be fam o u s and
u n k n o w n . As W illiam R othenstein, w ho knew both m en well, recalled:
"D egass c h a ra cte r w as m ore au stere a n d u n co m p ro m isin g th a n W h ist
lers. C om pared with Degas, W histler seem ed alm o st w orldly in m an y
respects. In d eed , Degas w as th e only m an of w hom W?h istler w as a little
a fraid . 14 And w ith good reason, for R o th en stein w ent on to show th a t
Degas could be m ore c u ttin g th a n W histler him self: You behave as
though you h av e no talen t,' Degas o n ce said to him ; an d again w hen
W histler, chin high, m onocle in his eye, frock-coated, to p-hatted, c arry
ing a tall cane, w alked triu m p h a n tly into a re sta u ra n t w here Degas w as
sitting: W histler, you have forgotten y o u r m uff. 15 T hus th ere is p ro b
ably som e tru th in th e rem ark of G eorge M oore, a n o th e r friend of theirs,
th at w hen Degas is p resen t, Mr. W histlers conversation is d istinguished
by brillian t flashes of silence. 16 B ut w hen M oores article co ntaining
this and som e equally m alicious rem ark s w as p u b lish ed in 1890 an d
W histler, fearin g its in ten tio n w as to em broil m e w ith D egas, w rote
to M allarm for reassu ran ce, he received at once D egass reply: N othing
The Butterfly and the Old Ox
19
can em broil m e w ith W histler. 17 T h at th e latter, deeply concerned, h ad

also co n tem p lated w riting d irectly is ev id en t from th e u n p u b lish e d d raft
of a letter w hich began: "This is w h at it is, m y d e a r Degas, to allow
into o u r hom es these in fam o u s jo u rn alistic stu d io gossips, a n d this one,
this Moore, is one of th e m o st w re tc h ed , a n d w hich rose to a level of
destructiveness th a t few b esides W histler a n d Degas could a tta in .18
the sim ilarities in th e ir re p u ta tio n sb o th as the creato rs of
difficult new styles an d as difficult p ersonalities th em selv esth a t w hen
a satirical com edy on co n tem p o rary artistic life w as p ro d u ced in P aris
in 1877, its m ost p o in ted th ru sts w ere n atu rally directed at Degas, an d
w hen an E nglish version w as p ro d u c e d in L ondon som e m o n th s later,
they w ere ju s t as n atu rally d irected at W histler. In The Grasshopper,
w ritten by M eilhac a n d H alevy w hile th e controversies aro u sed by the
first Im p ressio n ist exhibitions w ere still raging, th e p ro tag o n ist Marignan, an "In te n tio n ist p ainter, n o t only expressed som e o f D egas's
favorite notions of m odernity, b u t in one scene w as show n w orking from
a m odel w hom he h a d posed as a lau n d re ss w ashing linen, in allusion
to D egass freq u en t tre a tm e n t of this su b je c t.19 In th e a d ap ta tio n by Jo h n
H ollingshead, m ad e at a tim e w hen W histler, th en engaged in a law suit
against R uskin, w as a m ore n o to rio u s sym bol of the av ant-garde in
England, M arignans c o u n te rp a rt Pygm alion F lippit d eclared: We now
call ourselves h arm o n ists, a n d o u r w ork h a rm o n ies o r sym phonies,
according to color, a referen ce to th e titles W histler h ad ad o p ted ; an d
in th e th ird act a life-size c aricatu re of W histler, p a in te d by his (and
D egass) friend C arlo Pellegrini, w as actu ally w heeled on stag e.20
M ore im p o rtan t, the ab stra c t com p o sitio n s displayed w ith su ch com ic
effect by M arignan an d F lip p ita rectangle starkly divided into equal
areas o f red and blue, w hich could be read one w ay as a su n set ever
a vast sea an d th e o th er w ay as a d ese rt u n d e r a bright skyseem
ultim ately to have been in sp ired by th e seascapes p ain ted in th e p re
ceding decade b o th by W histler and by Degas. T he fo rm e rs H arm ony
in Blue a n d Silver: Trouville [3] an d th e la tte rs A t the S ea sh o re[4],21 for
S u ch w e re
exam ple, are so broadly conceived in large, lu m in o u s areas th a t they

alm ost could be inverted to p ro d u c e a differen t im age. Ironically, it w as
only m o n th s after The G rasshopper w as p erfo rm ed in L on d o n th a t one
20
3. W histler, H arm ony in Blue and Silver: Trouville, 1865. Oil on canvas.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
of the N octu rn es was actually show n to th e co u rt u p sid e d o w n a p p a r

ently by accident, b u t w ith u n fo rtu n a te co n seq u en ces fo r W histler
d uring the trial of his su it ag ain st R u sk in .22 The event th u s illustrated
perfectly w h at W histlers protege O scar W ilde w ould later call life im i
tating art.
The conviction w hich led bo th artists to create w orks so radically
sim plified in design th a t they could be ridiculed in a p o p u la r com edy
o r at a pu b lic trial, the n o tio n th a t a p ictu re is in d ep en d e n t of n atu re
and ultim ately su p erio r to it, w as p e rh a p s th e m o st significant link
betw een them . To be sure, A t the Seashore a n d th e o th e r p astel seascapes
and lan d scap es of ca. 186923 co n stitu te only one p a rt of D egass oeuvre,
the o th er p a rts o f w hich show a greater co n cern w ith the pow erful
definition of form an d m ovem ent, ch a ra cte r a n d local color; w hereas
th e drastically flattened an d a tten u a te d N octurncs a n d o th e r seascapes
of 1865-1880 are one of the essential aspects o f W 'histlers achievem ent,
21
along w ith the p o rtra its an d deco rativ e ensem bles. N evertheless, the
assertion of the in d ep en d e n ce o f a rt ru n s like a leitm otif th ro u g h th e ir
w ritten and record ed state m e n ts on art, d istinguishing th e m from m o st
of their Im p ressio n ist an d V ictorian co n tem p o raries. T hus, W histler
defining a N octurn e d u rin g th e R uskin trial as "an arran g e m e n t o f line,
form , an d color first, an d Degas ex plaining to th e p a in ter G eorges
Jean n io t th at a p ictu re is "an original c o m b in atio n of lines an d tones
w hich m ake them selves felt, w ere ex pressing th e sam e u n o rth o d o x
belief on bo th sides o f th e C hannel.24
H ence Degas, w ho adv ised Je an n io t to w ork from m em ory ra th e r th an
n atu re, so th a t you re p ro d u c e only w h at has stru ck you, th a t is, th e
essential; in th a t way, y o u r m em ories an d y o u r im agination are liberated
from the tyranny th a t n a tu re holds over th e m , w ould surely have
approved of W histlers statem en t, in his fam o u s Ten Oc lo c k lecture,
4. Degas, A t the Seashore, ca. 1869. Pastel.

Private collection, Scotland
22
th a t n atu re co n tain s th e elem ents, in color an d form , of all pictures.

. . . B ut the artist is b o rn to pick, a n d choose, a n d g ro u p w ith science,
these elem ents, th at th e resu lt m ay b e b ea u tifu l. 25 H ow ever, w hen
W histler carried th e ex pression of this position to an ex trem e in o th er
p arts of his lecture, Degas rejected its preciosity, w riting to H alevy, w ho
w as ab o u t to p u b lish an article on it, "If it is the 'Ten O 'c lo c k th a t you
are discussing, th en it is irony, it is co n te m p t of th e arts by th e w orldly
people in form al dress, it is bliss. 26 It w as w ith good reason, then, th a t
W histler b etray ed som e a p p reh en sio n in inscribing a copy of The Gentle
Art o f M aking Enemies, w here his lectu re w as rep rin te d , "to D e g a s charm ing en em y b etter frien d ! 27
T heir sh a red co nception o f art as artifice ra th e r th a n m ere im age
m anifested itself in th e w ork of th e tw o m en in a n u m b e r o f rem ark ab ly
sim ilar w ays. Both w ere fascin ated by th e m aterials an d tech n iq u es they
em ployed, an d ex p erim en ted ceaselessly w ith new m ean s of im proving
or com bining them . Of W histler in the 1870s, we learn th a t "h e had
no recipe, no system . The p eriod w as o n e of tireless research. H e had
to in v en t everything. . . , 28 And this included th e p rim ing o f canvases
in tones th a t w ould estab lish th e final color harm o n y from the begin
ning, and co n sta n t ex p erim en ts w ith th e ir tex tu res; th e use of b ru sh es
w ith h an d les u n usually long, held at a rm s length to achieve a broadly
flowing stroke, an d w ith h airs carefully resh ap ed by him self ; th e devel
op m en t of a novel m eth o d o f w ashing an d even d rip p in g d iluted color,
w hich he called a "sau ce, o n to a canvas laid horizontally. L ater he
devised equally original m eans o f p ro d u cin g su b tle to n al variations in
his etchings a n d delicate, pastel h u es in his color lith o g rap h s.29 Typi
cally, D egass in terests w ere b ro ad e r in scope an d m o tiv ated in p a rt
by a fascin ation w ith the technical as an en d in itself. H ence his re
discovery of, an d su b se q u e n t in n ovations in, the p rin tin g of m onotypes;
his novel co m b in atio n s of oil, pastel, gouache, an d w aterco lo r in a single
picture; his in tro d u ctio n of actual fabrics an d found o b jects into w ax
sculpture; his exploration of p h o to g rap h y as an aid to p ain tin g a n d as
an in d ep en d e n t form of expression; an d his lifelong p reo ccu p atio n w ith
the technical secrets of th e old m asters, w hose effects h e a tte m p te d to
rep ro d u ce in his ow n a rt.30 Yet b o th he an d W histler w ere som etim es
led by th eir ex p erim en talism into u n so u n d p roced u res, th e one im p ro
23
vising arm atures and ad ulterating his wax in a way th a t caused m any
of his statuettes to collapse or crum ble, the other painting w ith unstable,
bitum inous pigm ents and pulling trial proofs on m ildew ed or worm eaten old paper, w ith equally d isastrous results.31
In addition, both artists were very m uch aw are of the physical condi
tions in w hich their w orks w ere show n to the public, and succeeded
in introducing a n u m b er of far-reaching changes in the organization
and appearance of art exhibitions. W histlers innovations in this sphere,
his design and decoration of picture fram es in an O riental style, his
subtle harm onizing of fram es, m ats, and wall hangings, his insistence
on diffused lighting in galleries an d am ple spacing on walls, are all
fam iliar m anifestations of his devotion to an aesthetic experience.32 Less
well know n, b u t equally original, w ere D egass proposals to reorganize
the annual Salon by elim inating the crow ding and skying of pictures,
by displaying sm aller w orks on screens installed in the galleries, and
by grouping th e sculptures in an inform al, asym m etrical m an n er.33
Although ignored w hen they were published in 1870, they w ere adopted
a decade later in the Im pressionist group show s and were influential
thereafter. As late as 1907 Degas was envisaging a reorganization of
certain galleries in the Muse des Arts D coratifs, so th at the pictures,
hung on screens projecting from the wall, w ould receive a raking rath er
than a direct illum ination.34 Also little know n are the stories o f his
insistencealtogether W histlerian in their im perious to n eon choosing
the m ats and fram es for w orks he sold, and the m any designs for new
types of picture-fram e m olding th at ap p e ar in his notebooks.35
A belief in the superiority of art to m ere nature, th at p ro d u cer of
"foolish sunsets" as W histler p u t it, was probably w hat led both artists
to prefer interiors with figures, and above all portraits, to th e landscapes
th at dom inated the work o f their Im pressionist contem poraries, although
here Degas was m ore exclusive th an the pain ter of th e N octurnes and
the views of Venice. In retro sp ect they stand out as tw o of the m ost
interesting portraitists of their time, innovators w hose seriousness of
purpose enabled them to m ake of this genre the m ajo r form of artistic
statem ent it had been earlier in the century. Typically, however, W his
tlers portraits are sophisticated designs th at focus exclusively on a
single, form ally posed figure against a neutral ground, w hereas Degas's
24
are, in a p p e aran c e at least, m ore n a tu ra l im ages, show ing th e ir su b jects

in ch aracteristic p o stu re s and social m ilieux. T hus Carlyle, seated in
strict profile against a wall relieved only by tw o sm all prints, suggests
a degree o f im personality th a t justifies the title A rrangem ent in Gray and
Black, No. 2 [5], w hile D egass vividly d escriptive p o rtra it of D uranty
seated at a desk strew n w ith books an d pap ers, in a room lined w ith
row s of books an d p am p h lets [6], seem s m ore like an illu stratio n o f a
5. W histler, Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 2: Thom as Carlyle,

1872-1873. Oil on canvas.
Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
25
N aturalist novel.36 A ppropriately, the prints show n beside Carlyle are

m erely pale rectangles and, like the em blem atic butterfly opposite them ,
function prim arily as elem ents in a precisely calculated com position,
w hereas the desk and shelves laden with strongly colored books around
D uranty represent both the am bience and th e vital spirit of his p rofes
sional life. Yet both pictures, an d others like them , d em onstrated new
possibilities for m odern p o rtraiture, and both had a direct influence on
6. Degas, Edm ond Duranty, 1879. Distemper, watercolor, and pastel on
canvas.
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum
26
it. At tim es th eir c o n trib u tio n s seem even to have reinforced each other,
as in several of V uillards p o rtraits of the 1890s th at evoke b o th th e
so phisticated su rface designs of W histler an d the in tim ate dom estic
settings an d m o o d s of D egas.37
H o w ev er sim ilar th eir conception an d p ractice o f a rt m ay a p p e a r in
retrospect, the careers o f W histler an d Degas follow ed q uite d istinct
paths, intersectin g only at certain points. One of these, according to
Degas him self, w as at th e very start: W hen we w ere beginning, Fantin,
W histler, an d I, we w ere on the sam e path , the ro ad from H o llan d .38
W hat he evidently h ad in m ind, the type of sober, carefully co n stru cte d
7. Degas, The Bellelli Family, 1859-1860. Oil on canvas.

Muse du Louvre, Paris
8.
Whistler, Har
mony in Green
and Rose: The
Music Room,
1860. Oil on
canvas.
Smithsonian Insti
tution, Freer Gal
lery of Art, Wash
ington, D .C .
p o rtra it o r bourg eo is in terio r th a t h ad becom e an ad v an ced form of

R ealism by 1860, is b est illu strated by F an tin -L a to u rs Two Sisters,
W histlers A t the Piano, an d his ow n Bellelli Family [7], all p a in ted ca.
1859 and all ind eb ted , am o n g o th e r things, to D utch genre scenes and
group p o rtraits in th eir d epiction of a serenely o rd e re d m iddle-class
existence and th e ir h arm o n io u s pictorial style.39 E ven at this early date,
how ever, D egass g reater psychological p en etratio n , as seen, for exam ple,
in th e alienation o f th e p a re n ts in The Bellelli Family a n d th e c o n trasted
allegiances of th e children, differs from th e m ore sen tim en tal a n d d eco
ro u s tendency re p re se n ted by A t the Piano. But if the latter also seem s
m ore sim ple in design, this is n o t tru e of o th er W histler com p o sitio n s of
the sam e period. His H arm ony in Green a n d Rose: The M usic R o o m [8],
28
a w ork o f 1860 th a t is c o m p arab le to D egass fam ily p o rtra it in its

c o n trast of strong, black an d w hite sh ap es w ith delicate floral p attern s,
its in tro d u c tio n o f b ack g ro u n d p ictu res a n d m irro r reflections, is also
m ore ad v an ced th an this o r any o th er in te rio r he p ain ted before the late
1860s. The high, an g u lar p erspective an d ingeniously c u t a n d o v erlapping
form s in The M usic R oom , the depiction of th e little w hite girls m o th e r
solely as a reflected elem ent, w ere in fact p ro p h etic of pictorial devices
th a t Degas w ould first em ploy tow ard th e en d of th e d ecad e.40
T h ro u g h o u t the early 1860s, W histler w as generally m ore innovative
th an Degas, w ho, d espite his grow ing a ttractio n to R ealism , rem ain ed
deeply involved in pain tin g h istorical su b jects and in learning the lofty
lessons of trad itio n al art. T here is n o th in g in his oeuvre before the
W om an w ith C hrysanthem um s of 1865 [36] th a t eq u als W histler's Wapping, p ainted fo u r years earlier, in its asym m etrical disposition of the
p rincipal figures o r rad ical cu ttin g of th e m at th e edges of th e field.41
N or is there anyth in g c o m p arab le to th e subtly a tten u a te d harm ony, the
search for nuanced, alm o st colorless tones, th a t is found in The White
Girl [155] as early as 1862; the relev an t p ictu re by Degas, th e Young
W oman in a White Cotton Dress, alth o u g h m o re m asterfu l in execution
and su b tle r in expression, is d ated ten years later.42 M oreover, by 1865
W histler h a d stu d ied a n d collected O riental ceram ics a n d p rin ts in te n
sively, h ad rep resen ted th em freq u en tly in his ow n w orks, and h ad
assim ilated certain featu res of th eir coloring a n d com position, m o st
com pletely p erh ap s in th e Variations in Flesh-Color a n d Green: The
Balcony, w h ich is b ased on p rin ts by K iyonaga.43 In c o n trast, th e earliest
sign o f such an in terest in D egass w orka n d it occurs w ithin a co m p o
sition still th o ro u g h ly E u ro p ean , as we shall see in C h ap ter IIIis the
im itation o f a Jap a n ese g a rd en scene, rem in iscen t o f a type o f trip ty ch
p rin t, th a t a p p e a rs in th e b ack g ro u n d o f his p o rtra it of T issot [68],
p ain ted in 1866-1868.44
By this tim e the p ath s o f th e tw o artists w ere once again crossing o r
at least paralleling each o th e r stylistically, p artly becau se Degas, having
a b a n d o n ed historical su b jects an d his intensive study o f trad itio n al art,
w as tu rn in g to w ard m o d ern u rb an life an d th e p o p u la r a rt of D aum ier,
an d partly b ccau se W histler, having lost confidence b oth in R ealism an d
in his overtly Ja p an e se m an n er, w as experim en tin g w ith friezelike co m
29
positions inspired by classical scu lp tu re an d the classicizing w ork of

A lbert Moore. In a letter of 1867, th e y ear of In g re ss death , W histler
w ent so far as to w rite, "Ah! if only I h ad b een a pup il of Ingres . . .
W hat a m a s te r he w ould have proved, an d how healthily he w ould have
led u s,45 th u s expressing a view th at Degas, w ho h ad been ta u g h t by
In g ress pupils an d c o n tin u ed long afterw ard to ad m ire him , w ould
surely have endorsed . (Interestingly, b o th artists h ad ch o sen to copy the
graceful fem ale figure in In g ress R oger Freeing Angelica as stu d en ts in
the mid-1850s.46) M oreover, ju s t as W h istler could reconcile an a p p re c i
ation of that m a s te rs im p o rta n ce w ith an ack n o w led g m en t o f D ela
croixshe had, a fte r all, figured p ro m in en tly in F an tin -L ato u r's Homage
to D elacroix th ree years e arlier47so Degas had assim ilated first one a n d
then the o th e r m a s te rs style in th e previous decade. H en ce th e la tte r
h alf of th e 1860s w as a m o m en t w hen eith er o f th e tw o a rtists m ight
easily have influenced the other, an d th is is evidently w h at h ap p en ed
w hen Degas based the design of Mile Fiocre in the Ballet fro m La
S o u rc e [9]48 on W h istlers recently co m p leted S ym p h o n y in White,
No. 3 [10], a pictu re w hose exotic an d m u sical qualities w ould^have
m ade it a n a tu ral so u rce of inspiration.
From it Degas seem s to have derived no t only th e passive, m editative
m ood of the p rincip al figures, one seated on a rock at the u p p e r left,
th e o th er on the g ro u n d at the low er right, b u t the stro n g diagonal th a t
both links an d isolates them . In fact, he m ad e a copy of the S ym p h o n y
in White, No. 3 at this tim e [ l l ] , 49 eith er from th e original, w hich w as
in Paris, at th e ho m e o f W histlers b ro th er, early in 1867, or from the
fairly detailed sketch of it th a t W histler h a d sent to F an tin -L ato u r in
a letter of A ugust 1865;50 an d significantly, th e changes Degas in tro d u ced
in his copy, w hich w as ap p a re n tly d raw n from m em ory, m ake it re se m
ble his ow n com position still m ore closely. (Both the languid pose an d
th e dream y m ood of th e young w o m an in w hite at th e left side of
W histlers p ictu re re cu r aro u n d 1870 in M anets Repose, w here B erthe
M orisot, w earing a w hite dress, reclines on a sofa b en eath a Jap a n e se
p rin t.51)
It w as also in th e early 1870s th at Degas, w hose co n n ectio n s w ith
E ngland w ere, like M an ets, m ore extensive th a n they h ad been earlier,
ow ing to the exhibition a n d sale o f his w ork at D u rand -R u els gallery
30
in L ondon, w as b ro u g h t into closer c o n tact w ith W histler an d his art.

E n route to New O rleans in 1872, h e saw som e of th e la tte rs recen t
seascapes an d ad m ired in th em th a t m elting, m ysterious expression of
th e lan d a n d w a te r, as he re m ark ed in a letter to T issot.52 Several
m o n th s late r he re tu rn e d to the them e in a n o th e r letter, b u t c h a ra c
teristically he ad d ed , T here are still m an y o th e r things to p ro d u ce,
believe m e .53 Among those o th e r things w ere, of course, the scenes of
m o d ern Paris, p articu larly its racetrack s an d d a n ce reh earsals, th a t he
h ad begun to p a in t an d alm o st im m ediately to exhibit in L ondon. Som e
9. Degas, Mile Fiocre in the Ballet from La Source, 1866-1868. Oil on

canvas.
Brooklyn Museum, gift of James H. Post, John T. Underwood, and
A. Augustus Healy
10. W histler, S y m p h o n y in White, No. 3, 1865-1867. Oil on canvas.

B arber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
11. Degas, C opy a fte r W h istlers S ym p h o n y in White, No. 3, 1865-1867.

Pencil.
32
12. Whistler, Harmony in Gray and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, 1873.
Oil on canvas.
Tate Gallery, London
w ere in fact show n th ere by D urand-R uel as early as 1872,54 tw o years

before th e first Im p ressio n ist exhibition in Paris, an d m u st have h ad a
pow erful im p act on W histler. A lthough th ere is no d o cu m en tary evi
dence, his H arm ony in Gray and Green: Miss Cicely A lexander [12],
com m issio n ed in 1872 an d p ain ted the follow ing year, provides som e
suggestive visual evidence; for th e young girls pose is th a t of a d an cer
stan d in g at rest, an d her filmy w hite costum e w ith its black velvet bows,
set against a m uted, greenish brow n back g ro u n d , is also like th at of the
d an cers Degas h ad p ain ted . It is possible, how ever, th a t these pictorial
subtleties w ere in b o th cases derived fro m Velazquez, W histler's ac
know ledged m a ste r in p o rtraitu re, w ho w as also cited at this tim e by
D egas as a m odel o f refined tonal p ain tin g .ss
A fter th e early 1870s, the directions follow ed by the tw o artists d i
verged once again. H aving struggled unsuccessfully w ith classically
in sp ired figure com positions, W histler re tu rn e d to his prin cip al interests,
p o rtra itu re a n d seascape, an d in b o th d o m ain s his w ork becam e in
creasingly subtle, atten u a ted , an d m elan ch o ly q ualities w hich w ere soon
to be ap p reciated by M allarm and o th er S ym bolist w riters an d artists,
b u t w hich fu rth e r rem oved it from th e vital N atu ralist trad itio n of Degas.
For in these years he c o n tin u ed to explore those aspects o f m o d ern life
th a t h ad alread y begun to a ttra c t him before 1870, p ro d u cin g his m ost
fam iliar p ictu res of the caf an d caf-concert, th e rac etra c k an d ballet,
the lau n d ry and brothel, in a style w hose p ow er an d incisiveness co n tin
ued to grow. N ow here w as the distan ce betw een them by this tim e m ore
evident th an in th e w orks in w hich W histler treated a th em e of u rb an
e n te rtain m e n t sim ilar to the caf-concerts o f Degas. A lthough d raw n to
the C rem orne G ard en s as a b rilliant spectacle, w ith its fashionable
crow ds strolling in the d ark n ess, its colored lights an d firew ork displays,
he tran sp o se d them pictorially, in the M etropolitan M useum s version
[13] am o n g o th e rs,56 as a field of so m b e r tones an d delicate accents,
ep hem eral a n d purely a rtistic like th e firew orks them selves; w hile Degas
33
34
c ap tu red the vitality o f th e gaudy colors and lights, th e an im atio n an d

even the anim ality of the p erfo rm ers a n d th eir audience, choosing a u d a
cious perspectives in o rd e r to focus on th eir distinctive ap p e aran ce [e.g.
14].57 H ence it w as n o t only an obvious difference betw een his p e rso n
ality a n d W h istlers th at h e m u st have h a d in m in d w hen he re m ark ed
to th eir m u tu al friend W alter Sickert, The role o f the butterfly m u st
be very fatiguing, surely! I m yself p refer to be th e old ox, w h at?58 It
w as also th e divergence th at, d espite th e ir sh a re d aesth etic ideals, h ad
becom e so a p p a re n t in th e ir art.
Yet in certain w orks of th e late r 1880s an d 1890s, street scenes o f
m o d est p ro p o rtio n s and sim ple design, b u t m ark ed by a renew ed in terest
in the observ atio n o f local co lo r an d p iq u a n t detail, W histler ap p ro ach ed
th e sophisticated realism of c o n tem p o rary F ren ch art, th at of the N abis
an d ultim ately of Degas. In pain tin g s su ch as Chelsea Shops an d in
lithograph s of Paris streets p rin ted in 1894,59 th ere is th e sam e delight
in recordin g th e ch arm of u rb a n life, th e sam e skill in finding decorative
p attern s w ithin it, th a t in fo rm s B o n n a rd s series Som e Aspects o f Paris
Life five years la te r an d D egass Place de la Concorde an d sim ilar scenes
som e tw enty years e a rlie r.60 In th e sam e way, W h istlers late p o rtraits
13. W histler, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, ca. 1875. Oil on canvas.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Kennedy Fund, 12.32
14. Degas, At the Caf-Concert, 1875-1877. Pastel over monotype.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,
d .c
and dom estic interiors, sm all in scale, in tim ate in m ood, an d p ain ted
in a soft, slightly b lu rre d m a n n e r th a t en h an ces th e ir p erfect stillness,
are related both to c o n tem p o rary w orks by th e N abis, p articu larly
Vuillard, an d to earlier p ictu res by Degas. Indeed, b u t for its lack of
psychological p en etratio n , th e p o rtra it of Mrs. Charles W hibley Reading,
p ain ted in W histlers P aris h o m e in 1894, is rem ark ab ly like D egass
W oman Pulling on Gloves an d sim ilar p ictu res of th e mid-1870s.61 At the
end, then, th e tw o artists, w hose frien d sh ip a n d m u tu al esteem h a d n ever
dim inished th ro u g h the years, tu rn e d partly tow ard each o th e r again
in th eir art.
36
appendix: The Caricature of Whistler in

The Grasshopper
T he im age of W histler th a t w as w heeled on stage in the th ird act of
The Grasshopper, w hen it w as p ro d u ced in L ondon in D ecem ber 1877,
w as later d escrib ed by th e Pennells, his excessively devoted b io g rap h ers,
in a ra th e r d ep recatin g m an n er: A large full-length, th o u g h t by m any
m ore a p o rtra it th a n a caricatu re, w as p ain ted by Pellegrini. . . . The
p ainting show s W histler in evening dress, no necktie, an d a gold chain
to his m onocle; . . . it w as p u sh ed in o n a n easel, som e say by Pellegrini,
w ith the an n o u n cem en t, H ere is the inventor of black-and-w hite! It was
a failure, an d no w onder. It w as im p o ssib le to see the p o in t. 62 B ut
W histlers p rinter, T hom as Way, w ith w hom he w as soon to w ork on
lithograph s show ing the G aiety T heatre, w here th e play w as p roduced,
recalled th a t W histler h im self w en t to th e re h e a rsa ls, and th a t "the
c aricatu re in The G rasshopper w as n o t a cause o f offense to him , at least
I never h ea rd any p ro te st from h im .63 And w hen th e caricatu re was
criticized in the press, Jo h n H ollingshead, the p ro d u ce r o f th e play, also
stated th a t "M r. W h istlers con sen t w as asked before he w as p a in te d ,
an d th a t he a tte n d ed the last reh earsal a n d ap p ro v ed of the d ialogue,
w hich w ould h ard ly be su rp risin g in view o f his love of wit an d satire.64
U nlike m an y stage p ro p erties, the p o rtra it survived, an d w as su b se
q uently in the collection o f Jo h n W. S im pson of New York, although
its p resen t w h ereab o u ts is u n k n o w n .65
T hat it w as p ain ted by C arlo Pellegrini, the p o p u lar c arto o n ist for
Vanity Fair, is all th e m o re in terestin g in th a t he w as also a friend o f
D egass. In fact, the latter p ain ted a p o rtra it of him , in an idiom clearly
inspired by th a t of Pellegrinis political an d social caricatu res, in the very
y ear The G rasshopper w as p ro d u c e d .66 H e m ay even have p ain ted it in
L ondon, since th e g ro u n d plan of som e o f its streets an d the ad d resses
o f Pellegrini a n d o th ers in n otebooks Degas used a ro u n d 1877 suggest
th at he visited th e city at th at tim e.67 And this in tu rn raises the p o ssi
bility th a t he also a tten d e d a p erfo rm a n ce of The Grasshopper, an d th u s
observed a scene he had help ed to create on th e French stage tra n slate d
into E nglish an d played, as it were, by an A m erican artist.
II
"Three Great Draftsmen
ow ever closely they m ay have resem b led each o th e r in th e ir te m

p eram en ts an d co n cep tio n s o f art, o r have ap p ro a c h e d each o th e r stylis
tically at certain m o m en ts, W histler w as n eith er the only n o r even th e
m ost exem plary figure for Degas am o n g th e a rtists o f his century. Given
his conviction th at all a rt w as essentially artifice a n d th a t his own,
d espite its ap p e a ra n c e o f inform ality, w as entirely "th e resu lt o f reflec
tion an d stu d y of th e g reat m a s te rs , 1 Degas w as inevitably d raw n into
close an d fruitful co n tac t w ith m an y o th e r types of c u rre n t an d recen t
art. The range of in terests an d in d ep en d e n ce of ju d g m e n t th a t enab led
him , in the last years of his life, to form one of the finest collections
of nineteen th -cen tu ry a rt assem b led by anyone of his generation, a
collection alm ost equally strong in Ingres an d D elacroix, D aum ier and
Corot, M anet a n d C zanne, h ad already led him , in his early an d m iddle
years, to copy a n d study intensively w orks rep resen tin g all th e m ajo r
tendencies o f th e first h alf of th e century, a n d to assim ilate im p o rta n t
elem ents of them into his ow n w ork.
As a pupil of In g re ss p u pil Louis L am othe aro u n d 1855, im b u ed w ith
the m a s te rs N eoclassical taste, Degas drew rep eated ly a fte r his m y th o
logical an d religious co m p o sitio n s an d occasionally his p o rtraits, w hich
served as m odels for his ow n early p o rtra it style; a n d retu rn in g to
Ingress sources, h e re p ro d u ce d b o th in pencil a n d oil som e of th e
vigorously ren d ere d figures in D avid's pain tin g s o f h istorical su b jects
an d traced som e of F lax m an s illu stratio n s of The Iliad a n d The Odyssey,
w hose episodes he h im self p la n n ed to illu stra te.2 H e also copied after
w orks by H ippolyte F lan d rin , one o f In g re ss chief disciples, an d sp en t
a su m m er studying an cien t a n d R en aissan ce a rt in Lyons, th e cen ter
of these disciples activity.3 In reactin g ag ain st this d o ctrin aire classicism
37
38
fo u r years later, Degas tu rn e d w ith eq u al en th u siasm to D elacroix an d

o th er artists o f a d ra m a tic o r coloristic tendency. In m u seu m s and
exhibitions, in p ublic buildings an d chu rch es, he sk etch ed an d took
extensive no tes on th e R om antic m a s te rs w orks, a n d referred to th em
often in p lan n in g his ow n am b itio u s pain tin g s of literary su b jects.4 In
addition, b o th th e m o n u m en ta l religious com positions of C hassriau an d
th e in tim ate genre scenes of F ro m en tin a p p ealed to him now, th eir exotic
im agery stirrin g his im agination, th o u g h he also p ain ted copies of aris
to cratic p o rtra its by L aw rence th a t reflect a n o th e r asp ect o f R o m antic
colorism .5
In the sam e years, Degas b eg an to w ork in still a n o th e r tradition,
draw ing rep eated ly after e q u estria n p aintings and p rin ts by G ricault
and Alfred de Dreux in p re p a ra tio n for his ow n realistically ren d ered
pictures o f ra c e tra c k s/ A decad e later he c o n tin u ed to in co rp o rate into
them im ages o f h orses th a t he h ad en co u n te re d in th e w ork of specialists
such as M eissonier a n d the E nglish spo rtin g artist J. F. H erring.7 By now
he had also b ecom e a c q u a in te d w ith M anet, w hose m ore sophisticated
notion of R ealism strongly influenced his ow n a n d w as in tu rn influenced
by it; there are sim ilarities betw een several of th eir p o rtra its an d d o m es
tic interiors of the la te r 1860s, as th ere are a decad e later betw een th eir
rep resen tatio n s of cafs an d caf-co n certs.8 These, how ever, are clearly
in d eb ted fo r th e ir com positions a n d th e ir satirical vision to th e lith o
graphs of G avarni an d especially o f D aum ier; an d th e latter's political
caricatures, w hich Degas ad m ired and occasionally copied, are an im
p o rta n t so u rce for his o w n .9 H e w as n o less aw are of developm ents
outside France, having know n an d ad m ire d V ictorian a rtists such as
Tissot and Millais, w hose m eticulously painted, psychologically d is
tu rb in g scenes of m o d ern life seem to have influenced him , a n d having
also m et th e G erm an a rtist M enzel, w hose brillian t stu d y in artificial
illum ination, The Supper at the Ball, im p ressed him so m u c h th a t in 1879
he rep ro d u ce d it in oil from m em o ry .10
In each o f th ese m ajo r m ovem ents o f n in eteen th -cen tu ry art, one
figure w as o f p a rticu lar a n d even exem plary im p o rta n c e for Degas, n o t
only in his early, form ative years b u t in his m atu rity ; they are Ingres,
Delacroix, an d D aum ier. H is ad m iratio n for th e first tw o, am o u n tin g in
his later years virtually to veneration, is evident enough in his letters,
in the m em oirs of those w ho knew him , an d in his collection, w hich
39
Three Great D ra ftsm en
w as stro n g er in w orks by these m a ste rstw enty p aintings a n d ninety

draw ings by Ingres, th irteen pain tin g s a n d 190 draw ings by D elacroix
than afny o th e rs.11 M ore su rp risin g is th e im p o rtan ce ascrib ed to
D aum ier, ab o u t w hom D egas w rote a n d said little; even the presen ce
in his collection o f six p aintings and d raw ings a n d som e 1800 litho g rap h s
by the great Realist, alm o st one-half of his g rap h ic p ro d u ctio n , strikes
th e m ost recen t stu d e n t o f D egass taste as so m eth in g in ex p licab le.12 Yet
he him self w as qu ite explicit in ran k in g D au m ier w ith the o th e r two,
as the incid ent he re p o rte d to th e p a in te r G eorges Je a n n io t aro u n d 1885
d em o n strates: I w as speaking o f him th e o th e r day w ith G rm e at
the Caf La R ochefoucauld, I w as p raisin g D aum ier. W h at, said
G rm e, you ad m ire this P ru d h o m m e? B ut I am of th e o p in io n , I told
him , th a t th ere have b een th re e g reat d ra ftsm en in th e nin eteen th
century: Ingres, D elacroix, an d D aum ier! 13 This flaunting o f th e p o p u
lar carto o n ist in th e face of th e distin g u ish ed acad em ician w as no d o u b t
a gesture of defiance, b u t no t a betrayal of D egas's convictions. Seven
o r eight years earlier, he h a d expressed th e sam e th o u g h t in th e privacy
o f his notebook, choosing sp o n tan eo u sly the sam e th ree n am es while
exam ining the form s o f a rtis ts signatures.
A fascinating d o c u m e n t of D egass consciousness o f th e sm allest
elem ents of his art, even one so p erip h eral and trad itio n ally p ersonal
as th e signature, this noteb o o k p ag e [15] co n tain s his ow n n am e at the
15.
Degas, Imita
tions of Signa
tures, ca. 1877.
Pencil.
45
D&h.'
Bibliothque
Nationale, Paris
&
Lh
i
6
40
16. Degas, Notes and Im itations of Signatures, 1858. Pencil.

Bibliothque Nationale, Paris.
low er right, D elacroixs in th e center, In g re ss above it, an d D aum ier's

initials at the u p p e r right; it also co n tain s G ustave D ors nam e, rep eated
five tim es, an d th e co m p o ser E rn est R eyers at the low er le ft.14 Reyer,
a friend o f D egass, h a d recently b een elected to th e In stitu t d e France;
hence no d o u b t his p resen ce here an d the ex trav ag an t flourish, ending
in a sexual im age, a ro u n d his n am e. It w as no such satirical im pulse
th a t led Degas to im itate th e o th e r sig n a tu re sm ore accu rately th an
R eyers, a lth o u g h still from m e m o ry 15b u t ra th e r a d esire to co m p are
them w ith his ow n. Significantly, in th ree o f th e fo u r th e final initial
is a D an d in one the first initial is an "E , w hich he rep eats directly
above his nam e. T here are also form al sim ilarities b etw een th e D in
D aum iers sig n atu re, the e, g, an d a in D elacroix's, the final s
in In g ress, an d th e co rresp o n d in g letters in his own. It is tem p tin g to
Three Great D raftsm en
41
see in these analogies D egass se arch for a distinctive pro fessio n al sig
nature, b u t th a t w as already estab lish ed by th e tim e he u sed this n o te
book. Only its initial D" seem s to have ch an g ed a b o u t th e n ,16 an d this
m ay explain the successive tra n sfo rm atio n s of the sam e letter in D ors
signature to ap p ro x im ate its ro u n d e d fo rm in his ow n. F o r D or w as
o f m in o r significance for Degas as an artist, w hereas his choice of the
o th er three, precisely b ecau se he m ad e it so un p rogram m atically, in su ch
intim ate circum stan ces, confirm s th e ir cen tral p lace in his th inking ab o u t
nineteen th -cen tu ry art.
It w as n ot the first occasion on w hich Degas im itated a favorite artist's
signature o r co m p ared it w ith his ow n. On a d ja c e n t pages of a no teb o o k
he used alm ost tw enty years e arlier [16],17 at the very m o m en t o f his
co nversion to R o m anticism , he signed his ow n n am e in several ways,
this tim e really search in g fo r a distinctive form , an d su rro u n d e d it w ith
im itatio ns o r sp ecim en s o f the sig n atu res of those w ho w ere influential
in effecting th a t conversion: G ustave M oreau, w ho h ad evidently co m
m u n icated his ad m ira tio n for D elacroix and th e V enetians w hile they
w ere traveling in Italy; E ugne F rom entin, w ho w as a close friend of
M oreaus and, in his m o re subtle, realistic way, a follow er of D elacroix's
exoticism ; and of co u rse D elacroix him self, w hose w ork Degas studied
closely at this tim e an d took as a m odel for the expressive, coloristic
qualities in his own. Only one y ear earlier, how ever, in a n o teb o o k used
in Italy [17], he h ad w ritten In g res's n am e in G reek capital letters, as
if im agining it incised in stone, like the long in scrip tio n s in In g re ss
17.
Degas, Quotation from The
Iliad and Signature, 1858.
Pencil.
Bibliothque Nationale, Paris
42
Apotheosis o f H om er [20]; a n d as if to reinforce its classical co n n o tatio n ,

he h ad copied on the sam e page the first tw o lines of The Iliad, also in
Greek, and h ad noted on th e facing page a n ed itio n of P o u ssin s c o rre
sp o n d e n c e .18
h e a d m i r a t i o n th at h ad led Degas to pictu re In g ress n am e p rin ted in
G reek and later to im itate it w ritten in scrip t eventually becam e a kind
o f veneration, of w hich G eorges R o u au lt could ju stly m ain tain , He
im posed on his tim e his w orship o f D om inique In g res. 19 H alf a century
later, Degas still ch erish ed the m em ory of a youthful m eeting w ith the
o ld er m aster, w hose fam o u s Bather he h ad su cceed ed in p ersu ad in g its
"Three Great D raftsm en
43
ow ner, E d o u ard Valpingon, to lend to a retro sp ectiv e exhibition of

In g ress w ork. R ecounting th a t m eeting for friends, he dw elled on the
advice he h ad received w hen he co n fessed his ow n artistic am bition,
advice that in retro sp ec t seem ed rem ark ab ly p ro p hetic: "S tu d y line . . .
draw lots of lines, eith er from m em o ry o r from n a tu re .20 In an o th e r
version, how ever, he w as supp o sed ly told: Young m an, n ev er w ork from
n ature. Always from m em ory, o r from th e engravings of th e m a ste rs, 21
a n d indeed his early w ork w as d o m in a te d by d raw ings afte r o ld er art,
above all a fte r R aphael an d th e an tiq u e, w hich w ere In g re ss m odels,
a n d after th e latte r's w orks. T hese Degas h ad a u n iq u e o p p o rtu n ity to
stu dy at th e retro sp ectiv e exhibition, o rganized as p a rt o f th e W orlds
Fair of 1855, for w hich he h ad help ed to o b tain The Valpinqon Bather.
The m any copies Degas m ad e on th a t occasion w ere in fact alm ost
entirely a fte r Ingres, d esp ite th e presen ce of equally co m prehensive
exhibitions of Delacroix a n d C ourbet e ith er at the W orlds Fair or outside
it. A ttracted prim arily by the plastic perfectio n of th e o lder m a ste rs
form s, he co n cen trated on th e m ythological an d religious su b jects ra th e r
th an the p o rtraits, often isolating a p articu larly graceful figurethe
nak ed Angelica in one version of R oger Freeing Angelica, th e archangel
R aphael in one of th e carto o n s for stained-glass w indow san d ren d erin g
it in delicate d etail.22 A part from a sm all, u nfinished oil sketch o f The
M artyrdom o f St. Sym phorian and a careful, alm ost d utiful d raw ing of
The Valpinqon Bather, n o n e of th ese early copies is of an en tire com po-
18 {opposite).
Ingres, The Martyrdom o f St.
Symphorian, 1834. Oil on canvas.
Cathedral of Autun
19.
Degas, Copy after Ingress
Martyrdom of St. Symphorian,
1855. Pencil.
44
silion, w hereas In g ress ow n copies a fte r R aphael an d P oussin w ere

generally ju st th a t.23 On th e contrary', som e of D egass stu d ies a re of
m arginal, th em atically insignificant elem ents th a t m u st have h ad a
special appeal, like th e gro u p o f p ain ters an d lyric poets at the left side
of The A potheosis o f H omer, o r th a t exhibited a striking m o v em en t or
expression, like th e a n im ated figure o f St. S y m p h o rian 's m o th e r in the
u p p e r left co rn er of th e M artyrdom an d th a t of th e stooping so ld ier h alf
h id d en in the th ro n g at th e low er right side [18, 19],24 In this c o n cen
tratio n on a su b o rd in a te yet visually a rrestin g detail, th ere is a h in t of
th a t taste for th e eloquent, u n o b serv ed fragm ent that is so characteristic
o f D egas's m a tu re vision.
T he em ergence of such a taste is m o re a p p a re n t in draw ings h e m ad e
after som e of th e sam e pictu res fo u r o r five years later, w hen he h ad
com e into contact, in Italy an d th ro u g h F rench artists he m et there, w ith
a g reater ran g e of styles th an he h ad know n previously and h ad already
begun to develop his ow n style. These later copies are exclusively of
single figures o r p a rts of th eir costum e, often chosen w ith a poten tial
use in m ind, an d are ren d e red w ith a g re a ter freedom and confidence.
"Three Great D ra ftsm en
45
From th e group of p ain ters an d poets in The A potheosis o f H om er, w hich

he h ad once d raw n in pale, delicate tints, he now ex tracted only the
nobly poised figure o f Apelles a n d p art of The Iliad beside it, rep ro
ducing the classical d ra p ery in tones of strongly co n traste d light an d
dark [20, 21]; from th e gro u p of scu lp to rs a n d p h ilo so p h ers at th e far
right, only th e graceful figure of A lexander, in tercep ted by the fram e
in a w ay th a t foresh ad o w s his m ore radical use of this device a decade
or m ore la te r.25 The im age of A lexander, how ever, is also th a t o f a
fam ous hero, w ho is show n in an cie n t a rm o r an d stan d in g in strict
profile as in an ancient relief; this, too, w ould have in terested Degas,
w ho w as at ju s t th is tim e p lan n in g to p ain t a p ictu re of A lexander
Tam ing B ucephalus [215],26 In th e sam e w ay, he now isolated from
Roger Freeing Angelica, not th e suave fem ale form in th e center, b u t
a p erip h eral detail of p o ten tial use, the m o u n ted k n ig h ts w indblow n
cloak, w hose intricate folds he drew rep eated ly in a n o teb o o k co n tain in g
studies for The D aughter o f Jephthah [32], w here it w ould easily have
been in co rp o rated .27 This h a b it of assim ilatin g ad m ired elem ents o f older
art, perfectly fam iliar to Ingres him self, h ad alread y led Degas to base
20 {opposite).
Ingres, The Apotheosis o f Homer,
1827. Oil on canvas.
21.
Degas, Copy after Ingress

Apotheosis o f Homer, ca. 1860.
Pencil.
Present whereabouts unknown
22. Degas, Study for The Daughter of Jephthah, ca. 1859. Pencil.
the figure o f th e q u een in his first h istorical com position, K ing C andaules
Wife [108], on The Valpinqon B ather an d to form its classical setting on
th a t in Ingres's Stratonice a n d A ntiochus, w hich he had likewise co p ied .28
It w as aro u n d 1860 th a t Degas also began to im itate m ore extensively
th an he h a d before the b rillian t style of In g re ss draw ings. One reaso n
w as und o u b ted ly th eir g reater accessibility, beginning w ith th e im p o rta n t
exhibition at the Salon d es Arts-Unis in 1861 ;29 a n o th e r w as th e grow ing
reaction w ithin his ow n a rt ag ain st the ex u b eran t R o m an tic style he h ad
explored previously, a reactio n th a t led q u ite n atu rally from Delacroix
to Ingres. Increasingly in this period he em ployed th e la tte rs favorite
m edium , a finely pointed pencil on a sm o o th surface, to create his
favorite effect, an incisive, strongly accented line, w hich he allow ed to
stan d alone in defining form o r su p p lem en ted w ith subtle, alm o st tra n s
p a ren t shading. A p articu larly striking exam ple o f this In g resq u e style
47
is the study of a stooping soldier for an early version o f The D aughter

o f Jephthah [22], since the figures action, too, w as evidently based on
one invented by the o ld er a rtist [23], in fact th e very one th a t h ad
attracted Degas earlier in The M artyrdom o f St. Sym phorian. D espite this
clear filiation, how ever, th ere a rc revealing differences: ju s t as th e a tti
tu d e of D egass figure seem s m ore gentle a n d inw ard, a n d its m em bers
lack the energetic th ru st o f Ingres's, so th e m odeling of its form s is m ore
nu an ced and suggestive o f m ystery. In these stu d ies in general, it has
been observed, th ere is a difference n o t unlike th a t betw een Greek
refinem ent and R o m an fullness, o r betw een L e o n a rd o s precious early
drap ery designs an d those o f R ap h ael. 31 The sam e m ay be said of the
sensitive draw ings o f n u d es th at Degas m ad e in p re p a ratio n for The
M isfortunes o f the City o f Orleans [146], som e of w hich are rem in iscen t
of In g ress draw ings fo r Stratonice and A ntio ch u s an d R o m u lu s Victori
ous over Acron.
In p o rtraitu re, too, Ingres was b y far th e m o st im p o rta n t influence
on the young Degas. The finest o f his early self-portraits, p ain ted at
the age of tw enty-one, is a kind of h om age to th e w ell-know n one
depicting Ingres at a b o u t th e sam e age, in virtually the sam e fo rm at
and position, w hich Degas u n d o u b ted ly saw at the W orlds F air th at
y ear.32 B ut it lacks the energy an d d eterm in atio n of th e earlier im age,
23.
Ingres, Study
for The
Martyrdom of
St. Symphor
ian, 1834.
Pencil.
Fogg Art
Museum, Cam
bridge,
1965.296,
bequest of
Meta and Paul
J. Sachs
48
created sh o rtly a fte r the R evolution, an d in stead p ro jects a m ood of

lethargy and d o u b t m ore c h a racteristic of D egas's tim e an d personality.
T hat he co n tin u ed to ad m ire th o se o pposite q ualities in Ingres is evident
in his sketch of him in full acad em ic dress, in p ro u d profile, som e five
years later.33 T h at he also co n tin u ed to follow the o ld er a rtists exam ple
is clear from the p o rtra its he m ade o f relatives in Italy in the late 1850s,
an d above all from the a m b itio u s Bellelli Family [7], p ain ted on his
retu rn . Its resem b la n ce com positionally to In g ress G atteaux Family an d
Forestier Family has b een n o ted m ore th a n o n ce,34 th o u g h the differ
ences in co n te n t betw een these co m p lacen t im ages o f d o m estic h a r
m ony an d D egass searching analysis of do m estic tension are equally
telling. In th e follow ing decade, such differences b ecam e m ore p ro
nounced, even th o u g h he h ad by now m astere d th e elem ents of In g ress
d ra ftsm a n sh ip as well. H is p o rtrait d raw ing of the y o u n g er Valpin$ons,
d ated 1861, m ay still be In g resq u e in its form ality and refined linear
sty le;35 th a t of M m e H ertel [24], m ad e fo u r years later in p rep aratio n
r'
24.
Degas, Study for A
Woman with
Chrysanthemums,
1865. Pencil.
Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge,
1965.253, bequest of
Meta and Paul J.
Sachs
49
Three Great D raftsm en '
for A W oman w ith C hrysanthem um s [36], is m ore fully p erso n al in b oth

respects. C om pared w ith th e type of fem ale p o rtrait, such as th a t of
M m e Ingres [25], from w hich it u ltim ately derives, it exhibits a m ore
com plex style, no less precisely linear, b u t sw ifter an d m o re strongly
accented, responsive to n u an ces of local color an d ex p ressio n .36 The
direction of th e glance, th e g estu re of the h an d , is no longer co n v en
tional and flattering b u t idiosyncratic, expressive of a tense, intelligent
personality in a m o m e n t o f d istraction.
Long a fte r Degas had a b a n d o n ed histo rical su b jects fo r m o d ern ones,
he co ntinued to follow In g re ss exam ple in p o rtraitu re, th e least d ated
asp ect of his oeuvre. The influence is no t alw ays as obvious as th a t of
The Comtesse d Haussonville, show n at the Ingres m em orial exhibition
of 1867, on Thrse M orbilli [77], p ain ted tw o years later, w here th e
aloofness and stu d ied gesture, the eleg an t costum e an d m irro red salon,
and the sm o o th precision o f style all re c u r.37 Yet it c o n tin u es to be felt
even later in such w orks as The Savoisienne, bo th in th e so b er frontality
gl
\4
y
25.
Ingres, M me Delphine Ingres,
1855. Pencil.
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge,
1954.110, gift of Charles E.
Dunlap
50
26. Degas, Study for E dm ond Duranty, 1879. Charcoal and white chalk.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 19.51.9
an d sym m etry o f th e figures design a n d in the b read th a n d definition

o f its form s.38 The sam e is tru e o f m ale p o rtraits, such as the unidentified
one in the M useum o f Fine Arts, B oston, w here th e su b je c ts form al
d ress an d neu tral back g ro u n d , u n u su al in D egas's m a tu re w ork, are also
rem iniscen t of Ingres, for exam ple of The Baron de Norvins, w hich
Degas sub seq u en tly a c q u ire d .39 And, to take tw o w ell-know n draw ings
in the M etropolitan M useum , a study [26] for one of th e m ost th o r
oughly n a tu ralistic of his la te r p o rtraits, th a t of D u ran ty seated at a
desk piled w ith books an d p ap ers, is surprisingly sim ilar to a stu d y [27]
fo r the fam o u s p o rtra it of B ertin th e E ld er in its p en etra tin g analysis
o f g esture an d expression a n d its co m b in atio n of delicate m odeling an d
swift, em p h atic lines, alth o u g h D egass lines are in places still m ore
sum m ary. Indeed, w hen he exhibited a n u m b e r of draw ings, along w ith
the p o rtra it of D uranty [6], at the Im p ressio n ist show in 1880, th e critic
51
Charles E phrussi recognized in him not only a d raftsm an of m ore than

estim able ability, bu t a pupil of the great Florentines, . . . and above
all of a great F renchm an, M. Ingres."40
Duranty himself had long been aware that, despite his reactionary views
and outm oded subjects, Ingress pictures and especially his portraits
revealed a vigor, a simplicity, and a fidelity to natu re th a t m ade them
im portant forerunners of N aturalism . In reviewing the Salon of 1872,
he opposed to the facile colorism of H enri R egnault the probing d rafts
m anship of Ingres, w ho raised draw ing to a great elegance and keen
ness . . . m arked by a strength of ch aracter th a t one rarely encoun
ters.41 And in tracing the origins of "the new pain tin g four years later,
27. Ingres, Study for Louis-Francois Bertin, 1832. Pencil and black chalk.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, bequest of Grace Rainey
Rogers, 43.85.4
52
he found th em in C ourbet an d Corot, in Millet an d Ingres, those sim

ple, rev eren t souls, those m en o f p ow erful in stin ct, an d in sisted th a t
the latter, having b ro u g h t back from G reece only a resp ect for n atu re,
. . . never hesitates or deceives w hen co n fro n tin g m o d ern fo rm s.''42
T hese rem ark s are d oubly im p o rtan t, since they w ere u n d o u b ted ly in
fluenced by Degas; an d indeed he, too, co n tra ste d th e au th en ticity an d
pro bity o f In g re ss a rt w ith the freq u en tly contrived a rt of th e Ecole
des Beaux-Arts, even h esitatin g to visit a m a jo r exhibition of p h o to
graphs of th e m a ster's draw ings becau se it w as being held too close
to th e E cole.43
Like D uranty, th e m a tu re Degas could still find th e p ersonal and
n atu ralistic asp ects of In g ress oeuvre, above all the draw ings an d por28. Degas and the photographer Barnes, Parody of Ingress Apotheosis
of Homer, 1885. Photograph.
53
traits, relevant to his ow n; b u t he co u ld only p a ro d y the p ublic a n d

stiffly form al aspects seen in the m ythological com positions. This he
did in an am using p h o to g ra p h th a t he arran g e d an d h ad taken in fro n t
of a su m m er ho u se at D ieppe in 1885 [28], show ing h im self as th e
solem n H o m er of In g re ss A potheosis [20] an d som e young friends as
m uses and reveren t ch o irb o y s.44 M any years earlier, we recall, h e h ad
taken th a t w ork seriously enough to copy several of its figures, th o u g h
his choice of such details p e rh a p s im plied a reserv atio n a b o u t the ri
gidity of the w hole. Even now h e w as p ro m p t to d efen d it w hen his
friend H enri R ouart o bserved th a t th e gods in it, frozen as they w ere
into lofty attitu d es, b re ath e d an icy atm o sp h ere. W h at! Degas b u rst
out. 'B u t w h at could be m o re ad m irable? The w hole canvas is filled
w ith the air of th e em p y re a n .45 In fact, so deeply in g rain ed in him
w as In g ress concep tio n o f form th a t h e ju d g ed th e p aro d y itself in
term s of it, regrettin g th e looseness o f design an d loss o f definition:
My three m uses an d m y two choir children o u g h t to have been gro u p ed
against a w hite o r light b ack g ro u n d . The form s o f the w om en in p a rtic u
lar are lost. The figures oug h t also to have been co m p ressed m o re .46
A fter this date, the c o n tra st betw een D egass ad m ira tio n for Ingres
and his ow n un-In g resq u e p ractice becam e increasingly p ro n o u n ced .
Paradoxically, th e m ore his a rt differed from the o ld er m a s te rs in its
freedom an d intensity of expression, th e m ore en th u siastically he a c
claim ed th a t coolly classical a rt an d exalted th e perso n ality th a t h ad
created it. In 1890 G eorge M oore m ad e p u b lic w h at w as alread y know n
p rivately w hen he w rote th a t Degas w as a p u p il of Ingres, an d any
m ention of this alw ays pleases him , fo r he looks u p o n Ingres as the
first sta r in the firm am en t of F rench a rt.47 The year before, in p lan n in g
to visit an exhibition o f the la tte rs draw ings, Degas h ad referred to th em
as those m arvels of th e h u m a n sp irit."48 W hat he ad m ired in them ,
their conciseness an d wit, th eir savor o f a strong personality, he also
found in In g ress a p h o rism s on art, w hich he en joyed citing. You c a n t
q uote a rem ark of In g re ss th a t is n t a m asterp ie ce , h e d eclared, co n
trastin g them w ith th e far longer, m o re literary essays of D elacroix.49
Indeed, the tre n c h a n t style of his ow n axiom , D raw ing is not the sam e
as form , it is a w ay of seeing fo rm , is rem in iscen t o f o n e by Ingres
th a t he u sed to rep eat, Form is n o t in th e contour, it lies w ithin th e
54
co ntour.50 P erhaps the m ost touching expression of his veneration of

the great d raftsm an w as D egass long-cherished plan to classify and
eventually to publish all the studies by him in the M ontauban M useum,
a plan he proposed to th at city in 1897 with an offer, surprisingly arthistorical in tenor, to exchange photographs of the paintings in his
collection for those of the related draw ings in the m useum .51
By this tim e he had already form ed an im p o rtan t collection of
In g ress works, though he was to continue adding to it for ano th er
decade. How passionately he p ursued the latest acquisition is clear from
a letter to his dealer D urand-R uel, at once im perious and im ploring:
Do not deprive me of the little copy by Ingres, do not affront me and
grieve me thus. I really have need of it.S2 Eventually he possessed four
m ajor portraits, including those of M. and Mme Jacques-Louis Leblanc
now in the M etropolitan M useum , and sixteen paintings or painted
sketches, as well as ninety draw ings.53 Many of the latter were studies
for, and som e of the paintings replicas of, the fam ous com positions he
had copied as a stu d en t half a century earlier, am ong them The Martyr
dom o f St. Sym phorian, Roger Freeing Angelica, and especially T heA poth-
29.
Ingres, Study for The Apothe
osis of Homer, 1827. Pencil
and white chalk.
55
eosis o f H omer, for w hich he ow ned alm o st tw enty sketches in all m edia
[e.g. 29J. The poignancy o f these echoes o f the p a st also stru ck Valery,
w ho, in rep o rtin g D egass acco u n t of his visit to In g ress stu d io in 1855,
ad d ed th at w hile they w ere talking, [he] cast an eye a ro u n d the walls.
At the tim e he w as telling m e this [fifty years later], he ow ned som e
of th e studies he rem em b ere d seeing on th e m . 54
Long after he h ad ceased collecting an d even painting, Ingres re
m ained a su b ject of v eneration for Degas. One of the last vivid im ages
w e have of him is o f his visits to th e retro sp ectiv e exhibition o f the
o lder m a s te rs w orks in 1911, visits m ad e daily w ith a to u ch in g fidelity,
tho u g h he could no longer see and in stead h ad to to u ch th e p ictures
he h ad know n so w ell.55 A m ong them , o f course, w as The Apotheosis
o f H om er [20], th e cen tral figure of w hich, old an d blind a n d noble,
he now bore a striking resem b lan ce to, as several of his friends noted.
T hus his p lacem en t of h im self in th a t role in p aro d y in g the pictu re a
q u a rte r of a centu ry earlier took on in retro sp e c t a stran g ely pro p h etic
significance.
I t i s n o t su rp risin g th a t D elacroixs n am e, like In g ress, figured p ro m i
nently am ong the im itatio n s of a rtists sig n atu res in th e n otebooks of
D egass youth as well as his m atu rity : th ro u g h o u t his life these tw o
rem ained for him th e b rig h test stars in th e firm am ent of F ren ch a rt.
T hey w ere already recognized as such, at least am o n g living artists, at
the beginning of his career, w hen b oth w ere given retro sp ectiv e ex h ib i
tions a t the W orlds F air o f 1855 and, as th e G o n co u rt b ro th ers later
w rote in M anette Salom on, a novel of artistic life, all the young p ain ters
w ere turned, at th a t m o m en t, to w ard th ese tw o m en, w hose tw o nam es
w ere th e tw o w ar-cries o f a rt. 56 At th a t tim e, of course, D egass alle
giance w as entirely to Ingres, an d he seem s n eith er to have copied a fter
n o r to have im itated any of th e w orks D elacroix exhibited, th o u g h he
w as deeply im pressed by the sight o f him sw iftly an d intently crossing
a street an d rem em b ered it to th e end of his life: E very tim e I pass
th a t place, he rem ark ed fifty years later, I see D elacroix again, pressed
for tim e, an d hurry in g . 57
It w as on his re tu rn to P aris in th e sp rin g o f 1859, afte r sp en d in g n early
th ree years in Italy, th a t Degas b egan to study D elacroixs a rt intensively.
56
T hat his in terest h ad been aro u sed w hile h e w as ab ro ad , d espite the

ab sence of original exam ples, is ind icated by his fa th e rs rem ark som e
m onths earlier, You know th a t I am far from sh arin g y o u r opinion of
D elacroix.58 T h at this in tu rn w as d u e to th e influence of G ustave
M oreau, w hom Degas resp ected highly a n d w as closely a c q u ain ted w ith
at th e tim e, a n d w ho h ad e arlier a b a n d o n e d the acad em ic N eoclassicism
of his teac h er Picot for th e R om anticism of C h asseriau an d Delacroix,
h as already been suggested ap ro p o s th e presence of M oreaus nam e,
to g eth er w ith those o f D elacroix, F ro m en tin , an d Degas him self, in the
n o tebook used b o th in Italy an d in F ran ce in th a t m o m en t o f tran sitio n
[16].59 But this m ovem ent to w ard colorism , freedom of expression, and
originality o f conception, in sp ired by the g reat R o m an tics exam ple, w ent
beyond the circle aro u n d M oreau; it w as p a rt of a larger reaction, as
seen, for exam ple, in B audelaire's review of th e Salon of 1859 an d even
in th a t of D uranty, w ho h ad sp u rn ed D elacroix previously and now
declared him th e only a u th en tic a rtist in th e exhibition an d a m odel for
younger ones, n ot in o rd e r to copy him , b u t to follow his exam ple and
learn to detach oneself from th e co m m o n h e rd .60 Five years later,
D uranty a n d B audelaire w ere to figure, along w ith M anet, W histler,
F antin-L atour, an d o th e r a rtists o f D egass g eneration, in F a n tin s fa
m ous H om age to Delacroix,61
The d ep th of D egass ow n ad m iratio n rem ain ed unknow n, h id d en in
30.
Delacroix, Mira
beau Protesting to
Dreux-Brz, 1831.
Oil on canvas.
Ny Carlsberg
Glyptotek, Copen
hagen
57
his studies an d notes. We now know o f som e tw enty copies, bo th p ain ted
an d draw n, in n oteb o o ks an d on larg er sheets, afte r p ictu res an d m u rals
rep resen tin g alm o st every asp ect of D elacroixs oeuvre, above all th e
g reat com position s w ith religious, h istorical, an d literary su b jects. Col
lectively they suggest a rem ark ab ly in ten se assim ilation, as if Degas w ere
actively seeking th a t m a s te rs w orks everyw here in Paris: at th e Salon,
w here he sketched The E n to m b m en t an d Ovid in Exile am o n g the S c y
thians, the latter in p en and w ash in a very picto rial sty le;62 at the
C ham ber of D eputies, w here he d rew a n d took extensive notes on the
m u ral of Attila Scourging Italy an d tw o o f th e p en d en tiv e d eco ra tio n s;63
at th e ch u rch of S aint-D enis-du-S aint-S acram ent, w here he m ad e a rapid
study in pencil of The Pieta, an d the H all o f B attles at Versailles, w here
h e m ade a m ore careful copy in oil o f The E ntry o f the Crusaders into
C onstantinople; 64 at th e Louvre, w here he surveyed the G allery o f Apollo
ceiling m ural alm o st topographically, section by section, w ith m an y color
indications, in his n o te b o o k ;65 an d at an exhibition in the G alerie M arti
net, w here he rep ro d u ce d th ree dissim ilar pictures, Christ on the Sea
o f Galilee, The C om bat o f the G iaour a n d the Pasha, an d M irabeau
Protesting to Dreux-Breze, the la tte r ap p are n tly from m em ory, in the
sw ift, expressive style ch aracteristic of th e g ro u p as a w hole [30, 31 ].66
Unlike his copies after Tngres, stu d ies of a n ad m ired o r po tentially useful
detail, these w ere usually of th e en tire co m p o sitio n o r its prin cip al
31.
Degas, Copy
after Dela
croix's Mirabeau
Protesting to
Dreux-Breze,
1860. Pencil.
Bibliothcque
Nationale, Paris
58
figures and were often accom panied by color notations or com m ents
on the conception of the subject. After analyzing Dreux-Brzs expres
sion and the d ep u ties sym bolic role, for exam ple, Degas wrote: As for
the tonality, sober, dram atic in its cerem onial appearance. A m aster
piece! C om position an d harm ony. Never has this subject been in ter
preted in this w ay. 67
The focus of this co n centrated study of Delacroixs use of color and
com position in depicting dram atic events was Degass involvem ent in
creating convincing im ages of such subjects him self. At the sam e time,
and even in the sam e notebooks, th at he copied after The Entom bm ent,
The Pieta, and Christ on the Sea o f Galilee, he m ade countless sketches
for his own picture of religious p athos and resignation, The Daughter
o f Jephthah [32]; and it was probably w ith th at work in m ind that he
reproduced in p ain t The Entry o f the Crusaders into Constantinople [33],
32. Degas, The Daughter o f Jephthah, 1859-1860. Oil on canvas.

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
33. Degas, Copy after Delacroixs Entry of the Crusaders into Constan
tinople, ca. 1860. Oil on canvas.
Private collection, on loan to the Kunsthaus, Zurich
an im age of militar}' triu m p h an d d efeat like th e one he w as planning,

an d in doing so stressed th e d ra m a tic effect o f th e b rig h t b a n n e rs flut
tering against the o m in o u s sky. In d eed , in conceiving th e color h arm o n y
o f The D aughter o f Jephthah, he referre d rep eated ly to th e o ld er m a ste r's
exam ple. A lm ost n o g reen , he w rote of its lan d scap e b ack g ro u n d , th e
hills in a half light as in D elacroix, w ith a gray sk y ,"68 alluding to th e
la tte rs lum inous grays. F or th e color of J e p h th a h s robe, now d a rk brow n
b u t once verm ilion, he n oted, R em em b er th e o range-red to n es of the
old m an in D elacroixs p ic tu re, p ro b ab ly th e Piet he h ad copied p rev i
ously.69 And th o u g h h e did not m en tio n it, the p rin cip al figure in Attila
Scourging Italy, w hich he h a d also sketched, evidently in sp ired Jephth a h 's pose and striking gesture. B eyond su ch specific form s an d colors,
60
the ex u b e ra n t style of th e pictu re as a w hole an d the tu rb u len t, im p as

sioned c h arac te r o f the d raw ings fo r it likewise reveal th e R om an tic
a rtists influence. This vib ran t a n d vigorous style derived from D ela
croix is, in fact, precisely w h at ch aracterizes D egass d ra ftsm a n sh ip a t
this m o m en t in his d ev elo p m en t.70
B ut as w e have seen, he also drew on Ingres for inspiration, specifically
on the use of d rap ery in Roger Freeing Angelica a n d on th e p o stu re of
a figure in The M artyrdom o f St. Sym phorian. In d eed , w hen he w orked
directly from the m odel in stu d y in g th e related figure for The D aughter
o f Jephthah [22], his d raw ing style, too, w as m u ch closer to th a t of Ingres
in its precisio n and subtlety. Yet w hen, on th e o th e r h an d , he w orked
from im ag in atio n in visualizing this figure in its p ictorial con tex t [34],71
he reverted to D elacroix, ad o p tin g th e b ro ad , painterly m a n n e r of the
la tte rs oil sketches [e.g. 38] an d even going beyond them in freedom
of execution. To achieve this expressive u nity of color an d touch, he was
forced to sacrifice th e clear definition o f form he h ad attain ed in the
draw ing. In th e final painting, the conflict rem ain ed unresolved: after
m oving the sto o p in g soldier closer to th e cen te r and tran sfo rm in g it into
a leaping dog w ith th e sam e silh o u ette [35], he h alf o b literated this,
too, as th o u g h h e h a d p lan n ed to revise it once again before he finally
a b a n d o n ed th e p ro je c t.72 T hus his choice of Ingres a n d D elacroix re
vealed, for p e rh a p s the first tim e in his career, th a t a m b itio n to reconcile
opposed yet equally a ttractiv e m o d es o f vision w ith w hich he w ould
34.
Degas, Study for
The Daughter of
Jephthah, ca. 1859.
Oil on cardboard.
Formerly collection
of Marcel Guerin,
Paris
61
never cease to struggle. It w as one of th e so u rces of his p e rp etu al

dissatisfaction w ith his w ork a n d o f his irresistible need to revise it, a
n eed w hose fulfillm ent o ften b ro u g h t d isastro u s re su lts.73 Yet he w as
h ard ly alone in atte m p tin g to co m b in e th e styles o f Ingres an d D elacroix,
the acknow ledged m asters of the kind o f trad itio n a l p ain tin g he still
sought to produce: M oreau, w ho led h im from one to the o ther, an d
C hasseriau, w ho in tu rn led M oreau, h ad d one this earlier. In fact, he
later spoke w arm ly o f his ac q u ain ta n c e w ith C hasseriau, w hose refined
an d su b tle R om an ticism w as m u ch like his ow n, h alf In d ian , h alf
G reek, as he said, an d of the influence th e la tte r h ad exerted on young

artists of his g en eratio n .74
C haracterizing th e m ilieu in w hich C hasseriau h a d played so sym bolic
a role, the G onco u rt b ro th e rs w rote in 1867, in M anette Salom on, th at
brilliant personalities, ard en t, full o f prom ise, . . . m oved, like C has
seriau, from the shadow of one m aste r [Ingres] to th e sh ad o w of a n o th e r
[D elacroix]. ' 11B ut th a t m ilieu, p reo ccu p ied w ith trad itio n al th em es and
styles, h ad existed tw o d ecad es earlier; w h ereas Degas, w ho h ad by 1867
tu rn ed to m o d ern su b jects, seem ed still to be o scillating stylistically
betw een these m aste rs only tw o years earlier, as is evident in The M is
fortunes o f the City o f Orleans [146], th e last of his h istorical com posi-
%
36. Degas, A Woman with Chrysanthemums, 1858-1865. Oil on canvas.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The H. O. Havemeyer Col
lection, bequest of Mrs. H. 0. Havemeyer, 29.100.128
tions, and above all in A Woman with C hrysanthem um s [36], one of the
first w ith a distinctly m odern look.76 If the image of the w om an in this
picture, now in the M etropolitan M useum , is rem iniscent in its linear
definition and subtle m odeling of Ingress late fem ale portraits, the
painting of the b ouquet is equally indebted in its b righter coloring and
63
37. Delacroix, A Bunch of Flowers in a Stone Vase, 1843. Oil on canvas.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
freer ex ecution to D elacroixs still lifes o f flowers, several o f w hich

figured in exhibitions a n d sales held in P aris in 1864 [e.g. 37],77 T here
are, of course, differences in pictorial conception betw een th e d ram atic
rad ian ce of the R om an tic a rtists b o u q u e t a n d th e delicate re strain t of
th e young R ealists, ju s t as there are differences in psychological c o n ten t
betw een D egass tre a tm e n t of th e figure a n d In g res's. B ut th e d eri
vation from D elacroix seem s no less evident th a n th e o th er one; an d
even if the still life w as initially p ain ted in 1858, w ith o u t the figure, as
a recen t lab o rato ry ex am in atio n has indicated, an d w as th erefo re prob-
64
Degas: TheArtistsMind
38.
D elacroix, S k e tc h fo r
The B attle o f Poitiers,
ca. 1829. Oil on
c an v a s.
Walters Art Gallery,
Baltimore
39.
D egas, C opy a fte r
D ela c ro ix s S k e tc h
fo r The B attle o f
Poitiers, 1880. Oil on
c an v a s.
Form erly Emil G.
Biihrle Foundation,
Zurich
65
ably based on Italian B aro q u e flow er p ain tin g s,78 it w as alm o st entirely
rep ain ted in 1865, in th e fresher, m ore vivid colors of th e F ren ch m aster,
as a sim ilar ex am in atio n h as show n.
U nlike the influence of Ingres, w hich c o n tin u ed to be felt in D egas's
w ork, at least in p o rtraitu re, th a t o f D elacroix seem s to h av e declined
in the later sixties a n d seventies, p ro b ab ly b ecau se his w ork w as th en
at its m ost soberly realistic and su b tly refined, an d artists su ch as Velaz
quez and M antegna cam e m ore readily to m in d .79 B ut w hen, tow ard
the en d of this period, it b egan to ch ange stylistically, becom ing b older
in execution, b rig h ter a n d m ore com plex in coloring, D elacroixs a rt once
again seem ed relevant. It w as his signature, the largest an d m ost
centrally placed, th a t Degas m u st have w ritten first on the n o tebook page
of 1877 [15]; his n am e th a t o ccu rred m o st o ften in D egass c o rre
sp o n d en ce in the follow ing decade. In d eed , h e fo u n d th e n am e itself
sym bolic of th e a rtists alien ated condition, rem ark in g to a colleague,
in a letter w ritten in a p articu larly bleak m ood in 1882, De la Croix
has a p a in te rs n a m e ." 80 S ending greetings to th e sam e colleague from
T angier seven years later, he recalled th a t D elacroix p assed h e re ,
a d d in g w ith barely co ncealed em otion, O ne loves in n a tu re those people
w ho have not been u n w o rth y to tou ch it. 81 And in 1880, w hen p astel
had begun to replace p ain t as his p referred m edium , he d escribed for
a n o th e r colleague "a tiger [by D elacroix] w hich u n d e r glass looks like
40.
Degas, Gentlemens
Race: Before the
Start, 1862-1880.
Oil on canvas.
Musee du Louvre,
Paris
HHK
41. Degas, The Singer in Green, ca. 1885. Pastel.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 61.101.7
Three Great D raftsm en'
67
a w atercolor. It is p astel applied very lightly on a so m ew h at sm ooth

paper. It is very v ibrant, it is a lovely m eth o d . 82
The effect on D egass ow n art of this renew ed in terest in th e great
colorists tech n iq u e w as a p p a re n t a t once to H u y sm an s, who, in review
ing the Im p ressio n ist exhibition o f 1880, asserted th a t no o th e r pain ter,
after D elacroix, w hom h e h as stu d ied closely an d w ho is his tru e m aster,
has u n d ersto o d as M. Degas h as the m arriag e an d a d u ltery o f co lo rs. 83
As evidence H uy sm an s cited th e p o rtra it o f D uranty [6], w here he
observed th e use of an optical m ix tu re rem in iscen t of D elacroixs in
the foreh ead streak ed w ith rose, th e b ea rd flecked w ith green, a n d the
yellow fingers o u tlin ed in violet. B ut his sta te m e n t th a t this reflected
a p rolonged study of D elacroixs w ork p ro b ab ly o riginated w ith Degas
him self, since n o exam ples o f such a stu d y h ad left his studio.
W hat they looked like, we learn from his copy a fte r an oil sketch for
The Battle o f Poitiers [38, 39], w hich very likely also dates from 1880,
w hen th e D elacroix w as tem p o rarily accessible to him at a d eale rs in
P aris.84 W orking, p e rh a p s from m em ory again, from this brilliantly
executed sketch, itself greatly sim plified in relatio n to th e larger, m ore
conventional pictu re at Versailles, he c arried the p ro cess fu rth er, re d u c
ing the represen tatio n a l asp ects so d rastically th a t they form an alm o st
ab stra c t p a tte rn o f loosely b ru sh e d sp o ts o f color. If th e sam e degree
of freedom is n o t found in D egass o th e r w orks in these years, they do
exhibit th e sam e ten d en c y in color an d to u ch an d even the sam e kind
of com position at tim es, especially in scenes show ing h o rsem en in an
open lan d scap e like D elacroixs. The m o st striking exam ple is G entle
m e n s Race: Before the Start [40], w hich w as p a in ted in 1862 bu t largely
rew orked aro u n d 1880,85 p e rh a p s w ith the Battle o f Poitiers sketch in
m ind, since it b ears th e closest resem b la n ce n o t only in its p lace m en t
of th e h o rsem en below the horizon, b u t in its su m m ary tre a tm e n t of
th e d ista n t form s and its color h arm o n y d o m in ated by vivid spots of
red an d w hite again st a ta n a n d green ground.
As H uysm ans recognized, it w as above all in th eir new ap p ro ach to
color, th eir intense, v ib ran t hues ju x ta p o sed in co m p lem en tary p airs o r
fused in optical m ixtures, th a t D egass w orks w ere m ost clearly in d eb ted
to D elacroixs in th is period. A retrospective exhibition o f th e latter, held
at the E cole des Beaux-A rts in 1885, w as u n d o u b ted ly a fresh stim u lu s;86
an d the M etropolitan M u seu m s p astel Singer in Green [41], w ith its
69
42. Delacroix, The Fanatics of Tangier, 1857. Oil on canvas.

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
brilliant alteratio n of tu rq u o ise an d verm ilion flecked w ith yellow in the

skirt, its subtle rep etitio n of tu rq u o ise a n d verm ilion over yellow in th e
bodice, is one m easu re of th e re sp o n se .87 At th a t exhibition Degas w ould
also have seen the late version o f The Fanatics o f Tangier [42], of w hich
he m ad e an u n u su a l copy in oil [43] th a t h as been d a ted to th e tim e
o f the exhibition,88 b u t seem s stylistically to be m u ch later. Its heavily
sim plified co n to u rs an d b ro ad ly p ain ted areas of color, p artly in d e
p en d e n t of th e co ntours, link it m o st closely to his latest know n copy,
m ad e in 1897 from a M antegna in the Louvre [214],89 ju s t as its co m
p osition an d color harm o n y , d o m in a te d by b luish greens, yellowish
w hites, and a vivid orange, re c u r in his b allet p ictu res o f th a t p erio d .90
P ursu ing his investigation o f D elacroix's color, as he p u rsu e d th a t of
In g ress line, virtually as an a rt histo rian , Degas re a d a n d d iscu ssed with
colleagues th e m an y passages on color p h e n o m e n a in th e great R o m an
tics Journal w hen it b eg an to a p p e a r in 1893, and even m anaged to
o b tain som e of th e p alettes fo u n d in his studio, in w hich sm all doses
of m ixed color, labeled to in d icate th eir co m p o n en ts, w ere arran g ed in
various sequences, d ep en d in g on the h arm o n y to be crea te d .91 In fact,
Degas supp osedly used such a p re p a re d palette h im self at this tim e,
finding it analogo u s to a box of p astels, an d advised young artists to
do the sam e. B ut he also ad m ired the effect of color th a t D elacroix
o b tain ed in his black a n d w hite lith o g rap h s and the ease w ith w hich
he evoked a vivid perso n ality in his p o rtraits, praisin g tw o of those he
h a d ju s t acq u ired as "cleverly, freely done. . . . [He] did th em like a
g reat m an w ho enjoys everything. 92 And if he p referred the w it an d
brevity of In g ress statem en ts on art, he w as fo n d n evertheless of quotin g
D elacroixs advice on the ad v an ta g es of w orking from m em o ry .93 Even
the ap p earan ce of his g reat p redecessor, as fierce an d alo o f as he h im self
w ished to ap pear, in terested him , a n d he often rep ea te d R edon's de-
43. Degas, Copy after Dclacroixs Fanatics o f Tangier, ca. 1897.

PrivaLe collection, Paris
70
scription: the h ead of a tiger, w ith a cold, im perious air an d black,

squinting eyes of a n u n b e a ra b le brillian ce.94
In ad d itio n to the tw o early p o rtra its ju s t m entioned, D egass im p res
sive collection of w orks by D elacroix, largely fo rm ed in the d ecad e after
1895, contain ed a m ore im p o rta n t p o rtrait, the one of B aron S chw iter
now in the N ational G allery, L ondon, a n d p aintings rep resen tin g every
m a jo r asp ect of his achievem ent: religious an d m ythological scenes,
including a large, very d ra m atic version of The E n to m b m en t; exotic an d
historical su b jects, am o n g them a sketch for The Battle o f N ancy th at
resem bles th e Battle o f Poitiers sketch Degas h ad once copied; a spirited
copy by D elacroix him self afte r one of R u b e n ss M arie d c Medici p ictures
in the L ouvre; stu d ies o f lan d scap e an d anim als; even an interior, The
Comte de M o rn a ys A p artm ent [107], w hich Degas la te r considered one
of th e th ree finest p ictu res in his p o ssessio n .95 His excitem ent in bidding
for such w orks, his eagerness to install them in his collection, is rep o rted
by a n u m b e r of his friends. W hat is m o re surprising, in view of his
p rim ary in terest in D elacroixs color, h e also acq u ired 190 o f the la tte rs
d raw in g s;96 an d if m an y w ere p ain ted in w atercolor o r pastel, m any
o thers w ere draw n in pencil with rapid, broken, p u lsatin g strokes, w hich,
in co n trast to th e co n to u rs in his ow n draw ings, locate ra th e r th an define
form s in space. Like som e o f th e p aintings he bought, som e of them
w ere studies for p ictu res he h a d copied forty years earlier, a n d m u st
also have h ad a sen tim en tal appeal. In exam ples su ch as these, we
discover once again th a t rem a rk a b le contin u ity o f taste, th a t unsw erving
loyalty of attach m en t, w hich w as so ch aracteristic o f D egass relation
to D elacroix as well as to Ingres.
h e s a m e continuity did no t exist in D egass relation to D aum ier; and
a p p ro p riately th e great R ealists nam e, unlike those o f Ingres a n d D ela
croix, ap p ea rs only in th e late r page o f a rtists sig n atu res in his n o te
books [15], w ritten afte r Degas h ad tu rn ed from historical su b jects to
scenes of m o d ern life. E qually significant are the o th e r differences
betw een this page a n d th e e arlier ones [16]: the ab sen ce now of M oreaus
n am e and F ro m e n tin s, th e p resence of G ustave D ores. For if th e la tte rs

tenebrous, visionary a rt does n o t seem to have in terested D egasthere
w ere no exam ples of it in his collection, no references to it in his letters
71
and reported co n v ersatio n sit d id resem b le an d even an ticip ate his ow n

at tim es in depictin g such fam iliar u rb a n su b je cts as th e stock exchange,
the caf-concert, a n d the m usic h all.97 And if, on the o th e r h an d , Degas
m ain tain ed his frien d sh ip w ith M oreau, it w as n o longer b ased on sh ared
artistic ideals; on the contrary, his co n tem p t for both th e esoteric im
agery and the excessive detail of his colleagues w ork p ro m p ted som e
of his m o st sarcastic sayings: H e w ould like us to believe th a t the gods
w ore w atch -ch ain s 98 is one exam ple. Sim ilarly, F ro m cn tin s failure to
develop beyond th e refined exoticism of the p ictures Degas h ad ad m ired
at the Salon of 1859, in d eed his refusal to accept th e vitality an d m o
dernity of Im pressio n ism , inevitably alien ated him from Degas, w hose
views did develop an d w ere now expressed in D uranty's p am p h le t The
N ew Painting, w ritten in resp o n se to F ro m e n tin s a ttack on the new
tendencies in 1876.99
To this antagon ism betw een tw o artistic ideals, each one realistic in
its way, belongs also th e co ntroversy betw een Degas a n d G rm e over
the im p o rtan ce of D aum ier, q u o te d earlier in this ch ap ter; for G rm e,
too, believed he w as uphold in g the dignity of trad itio n al art in choosing
exotic or historical su b jects and in rejecting as b anal th e m o d ern u rb an
ones treated by the Im p ressio n ists a n d by D aum ier. H ence D egass
insistence in th a t co ntroversy on ran k in g the latter w ith Ingres and
D elacroix as one of th e th re e great d ra ftsm e n of th e n in eteen th cen
tury. H ence, too, his resp o n se to G rm e, who, on learn in g of his a d
m iration for D aum ier, sen t him several lithographs: T hese precious
p roofs w ere lacking in m y collection. I th a n k you w arm ly for them , and
hope th a t these sublim e hooligans will occupy y o u r m ind a little 100in
o th e r w ords, th a t they will teach him a m ore auth en tic, vigorous form
o f realism .
F or Degas him self, how ever, they w ere also m odels of a convincing,
vital form of classicism . "D au m ier h a d a feeling for th e a n tiq u e , he
rem ark ed to Jeann io t, H e u n d ersto o d it to su ch an e x ten t th at, w hen
he drew N estor [sic] p u sh in g T elem achus, it w as show n as it w ould have
been at T an ag ra. 101 Thus, quite a p a rt from its m ythological subject, one
of fifty in th e fam ous series en titled A n cien t History, th e lithograph of
T elem achus a n d M entor [44] p o ssessed for Degas a classical stren g th
and sim plicity in its style. Its h arm o n io u s form s, perfectly legible d espite
44.
Daumier, Telemachus and
Mentor, 1842. Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund,
36.12.22
45 (below).
Daumier, The Legislative Belly,
1834. Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Rogers Fund, 20.60.5
th eir sm all size, can ind eed be c o m p ared w ith those o f the H ellenistic
figurines he m entioned, th o u g h its im agery of sad istic p leasu re is foreign
to them , suggesting a d ee p er reason for its app eal to him . Long before
the T anagra figures w ere discovered in th e early 1870s, Degas had d raw n
in the Louvre after sim ilar figures from C y ren aic a,102 b ut the o thers cam e
m ore n aturally to m ind a ro u n d 1885, w hen he co m p ared D aum iers a rt
w ith them , since he h ad recently p lan n ed a p ictu re cen te red on one of
them . It w as a p o rtrait o f H enri R o u a rts wife a n d d a u g h te r exam ining
73
such a figurine, in w hich th e d a u g h te rs co stu m e a n d pose w ere rem in is

cent of T anagra ty p e s ;103 an d in th is w itty, highly p ersonal, yet ultim ately
resp ectfu l in terp re tatio n of th e an tiq u e, it resem ble d D au m iers p rint.
Clearly the sam e could no t be said of the stiffly posed, im personally
realistic statu e of a seated nude, hold in g a p seu d o -an tiq u e sta tu e tte an d
entitled Tanagra, th a t G erom e exhibited at the S alon o f 1890, though
his slightly later pictu re The R o m a n Pottery Painter revealed g reater
historical w it.104 Indeed, w hen Degas an d D aum ier tu rn e d to scu lp tu re
an d th e ir deep in terest in it, th e ir p referen ce for vigorous m odeling,
and th eir tre a tm e n t of su b jects tak en from th eir p ain tin g s a re all fu rth er
links betw een th e m they achieved a sim ple g ra n d eu r of form , a veracity
of m ovem ent, w h ich w ere au th en tically classical.
The d istinction w as im p o rta n t an d already recognized a t th e tim e, a t
least am ong artists. A ccording to D uranty, th e B arbizon p a in te r D au
bigny expressed his a d m iratio n for R ap h a e ls frescoes in R om e by
exclaim ing, I ts like D au m ier! 105 And after ad m ittin g th a t su ch a
com p ariso n seem s at first very su rp risin g , D uranty him self claim ed
th a t the h ead s in the w ell-know n p rin t The Legislative Belly [45] are
m odeled as b road ly as those in a p ictu re by P o u ssin , an d th a t the faces
a n d figures in o th e r p rin ts reveal as p ro fo u n d an u n d e rsta n d in g of
expression as those in H o lb ein s p o rtra its ,106 thus identifying D aum ier
w ith o th er artists o f a classical ten d en cy w hom Degas, too, adm ired. He
m ay in fact have in sp ired th ese com p ariso n s, since th e article in w hich
they occur, a review of th e retro sp ectiv e exhibition o f D au m iers w ork
46.
Degas, Copy after
Daumiers Legisla
tive Belly, 1878.
Pencil.
Bibliothque Nation
ale, Paris
74
in 1878, d ates from the p erio d w hen he w as closest to D uranty, w itness

his co n trib u tio n to The N ew Painting tw o years earlier an d his p o rtra it
of th e w riter one y ear later [6]. M oreover, th e only w ork in th e exhibition
th a t D uranty discussed at length, The Legislative Belly, w as th e one th a t
Degas chose to copy in a no teb o o k at this tim e [46], p erh a p s d u rin g
a discussion w ith h im .107
If so, how ever, it was to illu strate a very different in terp re tatio n of
the p rin t; for w h at im p ressed D uranty w as its coloristic style"a m arvel
of coloring, of vivid tones, h arm o n ized an d b a la n c e d a n d its realistic
co n ten tth e profo u n d , the in ten se feeling of life an d of tr u th 108
w hereas Degas ignored bo th aspects, red u cin g its tonal h arm o n y to a
stark co n tra st of black an d w hite, an d its im agery to a p a tte rn o f sc rib
bled shap es an d lines. In d rastically sim plifying the original, in effect
caricatu rin g a caricature, he expressed literally, in purely graphic term s,
th a t energy of aggression w hich D uranty d escribed figuratively in calling
D aum ier th e caric atu rist w ho is b e n t on disp arag in g an d destroying
the ideal, one w hose crayon is alm o st alw ays full of im pulsiveness,
of violence. 109 It is clear from D egass p o rtraits an d caricatu res that,
m ore than any o f his Im p ressio n ist colleagues, he sh ared D au m iers deep
f-
75
interest in physiognom ic expression an d m u st have exam ined The l e g

islative Belly in those term s as well.
In fact, w hen D egas b egan ex p erim en tin g w ith c aricatu re in the later
1860she h ad m ad e a few a tte m p ts previously an d h ad copied satirical
p rints by H o g a rth 110his startin g p o in t w as C harles P h ilipons im age of
the reactionary L ouis-Philippe as the p e a r, w hich D au m iers lith o
g rap h s h ad m ad e fam o u s thirty-five years earlier. On succeeding pages
in one of D egass noteb o o k s, w e find v ariations on th e p e a r m o tif [47],
b ased on su ch p rin ts as The Past, The Present, The Future [48], and
prim itive versions o f his ow n satirical im ages o f co n tem p o rary political
leaders, N apoleon III an d B ism arck .111 H is progressive sim plification of
the graphic elem en ts c o n stitu tin g each im age, th a t boiling dow n to an
easily rem em b ered fo rm u la w hich is th e essence of ca rica tu re an d th e
lesson he h ad learn ed from D aum ier, we find n ext in th e pages o f a n o th e r
n o tebook of this period, w here the w eaknesses of each p erso n ality th e
French e m p e ro rs sh allow ness an d effem inacy, the P russian ch an cello rs
bristling arro g an ce [49]em erge w ith in creasing clarity .112 Unlike his
p redecessor, how ever, Degas eventually fo u n d th e in h eren t expressive
n ess of his grap h ic fo rm u las m ore im p o rta n t th a n th eir topical signifi-
47 (far left).
Degas, Caricature Studies, ca. 1868.
Pencil.
Formerly collection of Marcel Guerin, Paris
48 (left).
Daumier, The Past, The Present, The
Future, 1834. Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 41.16.1
49.
Degas, Caricatures and Other Studies,
ca. 1870. Pencil.
76
cance, fo r h e applied one of th em equally well to a different personality:

several caricatu res in a no teb o o k o f the late 1870s, w hile co n tin u in g to
resem ble N apoleon III, look rem ark ab ly like E d m o n d de G oncourt, an
acq u ain tan c e w hose sig n atu re a n d a d d ress a p p e a r above one of th em
[123].113
Surprisingly, in view o f his closeness to Degas, D uranty h ard ly to u ch ed
on an aspect of D aum ier's a rt th a t now seem s im p o rta n t in defining its
influence o n later R ealist art: his fre q u en t choice o f scenes of u rb a n
e n tertain m en t an d d iversionthe caf, the caf-concert, th e ballet, th e
theater, th e art exhibition, th e b oulevard w ith stro llersa n d his invention
of designs w hich, in th eir strik in g view points and juxtap o sitio n s, their
daringly cu t an d brilliantly lit form s, convey a co rresp o n d in g sense of
the m ovem ent, vitality, an d social c o n tra st in h e re n t in u rb a n life. Al
though m o re aw are o f th is side of D aum ier's achievem ent, la te r w riters
have eith er d enied th a t specific exam ples of its influence can be found
50.
Degas, The Orchestra of
the Opera, 1868-1869.
Oil on canvas.
51.
Daumier, The Orchestra
during the Performance
of a Tragedy, 1852.
Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, Rogers
Fund, 22.61.304
in D egass w ork o r have ten d ed to cite the sam e one, so th a t the full
extent of its significance fo r him h as n ev er been a p p re c ia te d .114 On the
contrary, one w riter has m ain ta in e d th a t G av arn is p rin ts, w hich Degas
ad m ired an d collected in even g re a te r n u m b ers, w ere equally significant
for him as sou rces o f in sp ira tio n .115 But p e rh ap s b ecau se he recognized
th eir artistic lim itatio n s It is a m a n n e r o f expressing oneself in d ra w
ings, h e told Jean n io t, b u t it is only a m an n e r; it is no t a truly artistic
ex p ressio n 116he seem s to have bo rro w ed fa r less from them .
D au m iers influence is m o st a p p a re n t in those p ictu res of th eatrical
p erfo rm an ce in w hich Degas could indulge his own delight in ju x ta p o s
ing the artificial an d the n a tu ral while draw in g on his great p red ecesso rs
innovations. The ex am p le generally cited, The Orchestra o f the Opera
[50] of ca. 1869, is in d eed rem in iscen t o f The Orchestra during the Per
form ance o f a Tragedy [51], w here the an im ated , brightly lit p erfo rm ers
on stage are co n tra ste d to th e grave, so m b erly d ressed m u sician s below
it, the h orizontal footlights actin g as a stro n g divider, th o u g h Degas
c h aracteristically p o rtray s th e m usician s as individuals ra th e r th a n as
78
m em bers o f a class or p ro fe ssio n .117 In M usicians in the Orchestra,

p ainted three years later, he tra n sfo rm e d this relatively static opposition
of the tw o g ro u p s into a visually m ore d ra m a tic one, view ed as if from
a position d irectly b ehind th e th ree m usicians, w hose heads an d in stru
m en ts loom large in the foreg ro u n d , o v erlapping the sm all, lum inous
figure of th e d a n ce r above them ; yet this situation, too, can be found
earlier, in a m ore clearly contrived, sym m etrical form , in D au m iers
D ancer W ho Prides H erself on H aving Conserved the Noble Traditions. 118
Still m ore d y n am ic in com position th a n the co rresp o n d in g w ork by
D aum ier, b u t still closely related to it in conception, is The D uet of ca.
1877, an im age of p erfo rm ers on stage, seen from b eh in d as if from th e
wings, w ith the p ro m p te r p eerin g o u t of his box at one side an d the
audience faintly ind icated in th e back g ro u n d , very m uch as in the prin t
The E vening o f a First Performance, though again th e latter is m ore
form al an d fro n tal in d esig n .119
52.
Degas, The Caf-Concert at
Les Ambassadeurs, ca. 1876.
Pastel over monotype.
Muse des Beaux-Arts, Lyons
79
In D aum iers tre a tm e n t o f th e caf-concert, a m o re specifically p o p u lar

form of en tertain m en t, w hich allow ed for a sh rew d er psychological
analysis of th e p erfo rm ers an d sp ectato rs, Degas seem s to have found
inspiration for the so m ew h at satirical co n ten t as well as the striking
pictorial form that ch aracterize his ow n treatm en t. U nlike the sensitive
faces in The Orchestra o f the Opera, th o se of th e low er-class aud ien ce
an d m usicians in The Caf-Concert at Les A m bassadeurs |_52J display a
coarseness rem in iscen t of th e b eer-drinking w orkers an d clerks in
D aum iers p rin t A t the C hamps Elyses [53], ju s t as th e bold division
o f the su rface into tw o zones, one d o m in ate d by heavy, so m b er shapes,
the o th e r by light, delicate ones, w ith a sharply silhouetted h a t linking
the tw o, is sim ilar to it in c o m p o sitio n .120 W hen Degas tu rn e d his satirical
atten tio n to the sin g er ra th e r th a n the sp ectato rs, as he did in The Song
o f the Dog [197], subtly u n d erlin in g the vulgarity of h er expression, h er
m im ing of the an im a ls gesture, h e seem s to have d raw n once again on
53.
Daumier, At the
Champs Elyses, 1852.
Lithograph.
Bibliothque Nationale,
Paris
80
54. Degas, Ludovic Halvy Meeting Mme Cardinal Backstage, ca. 1878.
Monotype.
Private collection, Paris
D aum iers prints, particularly on The Leading Singer o f a Cafe-Concert,

whose subject is show n in virtually the sam e position and illum inated
from below in the sam e unflattering m anner, though the effect is rath er
of haggardness and straining to continue the perfo rm an ce.121
This fascination w ith the m undane reality behind the theatrical illusion
naturally led both artists to dwell on scenes set behind the scenes, with
the result th at here, too, the older one could provide the younger one
with som e useful hints. Thus, Degass m onotype L udovic Halevy Meeting
M m e Cardinal Backstage [54] evidently has, in addition to its literary
81
55. Daumier, The Mother o f the Singer, 1857. Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of E. de T. Bechtel,
52.633.1(17)
source in th at a u th o rs Cardinal Family, a visual source in D au m iers

p rin t The M other o f the Singer [55], a com position th a t is likew ise divided
by the w avy edge of a stage flat in to tw o dom ains, one d o m inated by
a sullen m o th er stan d in g in its shadow , th e o th er by a graceful d a u g h te r
perform ing u n d e r th e lig h ts.122 As in th e previous exam ples, how ever,
the earlier R ealist stresses the social significance of th e co n trast, w hereas
the later one is co n te n t m erely to reco rd its c h arm for a su b tle o b serv ers
eye.
If D aum iers lith o g rap h s w ere readily available to Degas, w h o e v e n tu
ally ow ned som e 1800 of th e m ,123 m an y sup p o sed ly clipped from the
pages of Le Charivari each week, his p ain tin g s an d d raw ings w ere m uch
m ore difficult of access. R arely show n a t the S alon o r in d e a le rs g al
82
leries, entirely ab sen t from p ublic collections, they w ere lirst displayed
in large n u m b e rs at th e retrospective exhibition of 1878 an d again at
the Ecole des Beaux-Arts a d ecad e later, although by then D egass a rt
w as too com pletely fo rm ed for th e m to affect it. E arlier h e m ay also
have seen w orks th a t p assed th ro u g h th e h a n d s of H ecto r B ram e and
Paul D urand-R uel, dealers w ith w hom h e w as friendly, o r th at belonged
to the R ouarts an d o th e r collectors in his circle, b u t it is o ften im possible
to specify w hich ones and w h e n .124 H ence the retrospective show o f 1878
w as for him , as it w as for D uranty a n d others, his m ost im p o rta n t
en co u n te r w ith D au m iers paintings, an d th e w orks h e p ro d u ced afte r
th a t date are those in w hich th eir influence can be sought.
This is why a co n tem p o rary critics observ atio n th a t D egass L a u n
dresses Carrying Linen, show n at th e Im p ressio n ist exhibition of 1879,
56.
Daumier, The
Laundress, ca.
1863. Oil on
wood.
Metropolitan
Museum of
Art, New York,
bequest of
Lizzie P. Bliss,
47.122
83
"looks from afa r like a D au m ier is m islead in g .125 For if one of the
la tte rs p ictures of lau n d resses, now in th e M etropolitan M useum [56],
h ad figured in the retro sp ectiv e th e y ear before, D egass h a d been co m
pleted som e years before th at; an d if a n o th e r o f D au m iers pictu res had
been show n at the S alon of 1861, Degas w ould h ard ly have recalled it
very clearly a fter fifteen y e a rs.126 M uch m ore likely to have b een inspired
by th e Laundress exh ib ited in 1878 is one th a t Degas p ain ted fo u r years
later [5 7 ].'27 A lthough an im age of skilled lab o r ra th e r th a n h u m an
hard sh ip , set in th e la u n d re sss sh o p ra th e r th a n on a d eserted quay, it
is rem ark ab ly sim ilar in design: here, too, the w om an is depicted a
contre-jour, as a dark, cu rv ed fo rm silh o u etted ag ain st light, generally
rectan g u lar ones in the back g ro u n d , and she ap p e a rs b en d in g far to the
left, co n cen tratin g on h e r task, so th a t h e r face beco m es an anonym ous,
57.
Degas, Woman
Ironing, Seen
Against the Light,
ca. 1882. Peinture
Iessence on card
board.
National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D .C .,
Collection of Mr. and
Mrs. Paul Mellon
84
58. Daumier, The Amateurs, 1860-1863. Oil on canvas.

Museum Boymansvan Beuningen, Rotterdam
shadow y profile; an d here, too, a sm all, ro u n d form , a bow l in stead of

a ch ild s h ead, becom es a focus of th e com position. In o th e r L au n d ress
paintings o f th e 1880s, Degas again explored th e contre-jour effect rem i
niscent of D aum ier, b u t never w ith su ch strikingly sim ilar re su lts.128
A m ong th e o th e r pain tin g s show n in 1878 th a t m u st have im p ressed
D egas w as The A m ateurs [58], for he clearly h ad it in m ind in pain tin g
his ow n version o f this su b je ct som e th re e years la te r [59].129 A lthough
his version is a p o rtra it of tw o friends d evoted to art, the collector
A lphonse Cherfils an d th e sch o lar Paul L afond, w hereas D au m iers is
of unidentified figures in terestin g only as types, its d ep en d en ce on the
la tte r seem s evident enough b o th com positionally a n d in its p resen tatio n
of the tw o m en as tru e amateurs, a b so rb ed in the silent co n tem p latio n
of a sm all canvas one of th em holds. It is likely, too, th a t in th e various
versions o f Comic Actors on Stage, w hich w ere also show n in 1878, Degas
85
w as stru ck by the d isto rtio n s cau sed by footlights illum inating th e a c to rs

faces from below, for in th e Caf-Concert Singer Wearing a Glove, exe
cuted in th a t year, he depicted w ith equally d ra m a tic effect a p erfo rm er
seen in a glaring footlight from an u n u su ally low an d pro x im ate view
p o in t.130
W hatever the influence o f D au m iers pain tin g s m ay have been at th a t
tim e, Degas m ade little effort to collect th em later, w hen h e h ad the
m eans; in stead he chose to c o n cen trate on Ingres a n d D elacroix, Corot
a n d M anet, and o th e r m asters. The one canvas he ow ned, th e M an Seated
in an A rm chair, reveals n o th in g precise a b o u t th e n a tu re o f his in terest
in D aum ier, n o r do the five d raw in g s,131 th o u g h one of them , a study
of am ateurs adm irin g a p ictu re, p ro b ab ly app ealed for th e sam e reaso n s
as th e p ainting w hose influence he h ad felt earlier. F ar m ore im p o rta n t
w as his collection o f lith o g rap h s, m any of th em rare p roofs obviously
not taken from Le Charivari bu t p u rc h a se d individually a n d v alued as
59. Degas, The Amateurs, ca. 1881. Oil on wood.
Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Collection
86
fine prints. H ere D egass ad m iratio n for D au m iers d raftsm an sh ip , w hich

he h ad o nce d eclared eq u al to th a t of Ingres a n d Delacroix, expressed
itself in a ch aracteristically expansive form .
h a t Degas ad m ired an d collected th e w orks o f Ingres, Delacroix, and
D aum ier, th a t h e o ften co p ied afte r a n d drew in sp iratio n fro m them ,
is not in itself su rp rising; along w ith th e w orks o f C orot, C ourbet, an d
Millet, they w ere m odels o f an a u th en tic art, in d ep e n d e n t of th e a c a d
emy, fo r m an y ad v an ced a rtists o f th e la te r n in eteen th c e n tu ry .132 W hat
is rem ark ab le is the ex ten t to w hich he w as ab le to ap p reciate the
distinctive an d in m any w ays m utu ally exclusive styles of all three
sim ultaneously and, w ith o u t any h in t o f eclecticism , to assim ilate im
p o rta n t elem ents of th em into his ow n style. As we have seen, Ingres's
art epitom ized for him from th e beginning a N eoclassical ideal of h a r
m onious form a n d incisive draw ing, ju s t as D elacroix's em bodied a
R om antic ideal of poetic co n cep tio n and v ib ra n t coloring, an d D aum ier's

later rep re se n te d a R ealist ideal of tre n c h a n t o b servation an d u n co n
ventional design, all of w hich w ere essential featu res of his ow n art. In
addition, each of the th ree w as pre-em in en t in a genre o r type o f su b ject
m a tte r in w hich he him self specialized at som e tim e in his career, Ingres
in p o rtraitu re an d n u d e fem ale figures, D elacroix in n arrativ e co m p o si
tion and horses in m ovem ent, D aum ier in c aricatu re and scenes o f u rb an
life. T hus the achievem ents of these th re e n o t only re p resen t th e p rin ci
pal sources o f D egas's art, its m a jo r links w ith th e a rtistic cu ltu re of
his tim e; they also co rresp o n d to im p o rta n t aspects of his ow n achieve
m en t and to g eth er sym bolize th a t com plexity of style an d co n ten t w hich
is p erh ap s its m ost im pressive characteristic.
C ertainly it is a synthesis u n eq u aled even in th e m ost am bitious a rt
of his generation, th a t o f his Im p ressio n ist colleagues: no t sim ply b e
cause the lan d scap e p ain ters am ong them rejected th e exam ple of earlier
art altogether, so th a t alread y in the 1860s, w hile he w as in th e Louvre
studying his chosen m asters, pencil o r b ru sh in hand, M onet w as o utside
on its balcony, p ainting views of Paris, an d P issarro w as in th e cafe
opposite, d em an d in g th a t such necropolises of a r t be b u rn e d d o w n ;133
bu t because even th e figure p ain ters, w ho w ere conscious of the lessons
to be learn ed from earlier n in eteen th -cen tu ry art, never struggled as he
Three Great D raftsm en"
87
did to reconcile su ch fu n d am en tally dissim ilar styles. On the contrary,

w hen R enoir tu rn e d to th e lin ear precision an d blan d b a th e r su b jects
of Ingres in the 1880s, it w as in reactio n ag ain st the vivid colorism and
exotic them es he h ad learn ed from D elacroix in th e previous decade,
and as for the em phatic, p o p u la r art of D aum ier, this seem s never to
have in terested h im .134 If C zanne w as influenced by th e latter in his
early, expressionist phase, an d th ro u g h o u t his c areer m ad e studies of
and drew in sp iratio n fro m th e art of D elacroix, w hose hom age he
p lan n ed to paint, he h ad little b u t co n tem p t for Ingres, w hom he id en ti
fied w ith the acad e m y .135 Only M anet, in m an y w ays th e closest in this
group to Degas artistically an d socially, seem s to have ap p reciated all
three m asters an d to have b o rro w ed from th em a t tim es, b u t he did so
w ith g reater confidence an d pow ers of assim ilation, rarely experiencing
the tension o r fru stra tio n th a t Degas felt in striving for so am bitious
a sy n th esis.136 As Valry rep o rts, he a d m ired and envied th e assu ran ce
of M anet, w hose eye an d h an d w ere certain ty itself, w hereas for him ,
"w ho m issed nothing, w ho en jo y ed and sufferedfrom everything, th e
m ere existence of several diverging styles c o n stitu ted the great p ro b
lem . 137
H ow ever, th e problem m u st have been m ore acute at certain tim es
th a n at others. If Ingres co m m an d ed his ad m iratio n from beginning to
end, his actu al influence w as confined to th e period 1855-1880, an d
especially to its first fifteen years, those of D egass g reatest in terest in
h istorical su b jects a n d fam ily p o rtra its a n d o f his m o st classical d ra fts
m anship. A lthough Delacroix, too, w as an idol th ro u g h o u t his career,
his im pact stylistically w as m o st a p p a re n t in th e early 1860s, w hen Degas
reacted against his conservative early training, an d again in 1880-1900,
w hen color increasingly b ecam e th e d o m in a n t elem en t in his art. As for
D aum ier, w hom he began to ap p reciate la ter th a n the o th e r two, his w ork
w as evidently a so u rce of in sp iratio n only in the years 1870-1885, those
of D egas's m ost active involvem ent w ith th em es of u rb a n w ork an d
e n tertain m en t a n d p ro b lem s o f physiognom ic expression. C onsequently,
th e periods of greatest tension betw een conflicting artistic ideals w ere
th a t of th e sixties, w hen he so u g h t to com bine th e o p p o sed stylistic
q ualities of Ingres a n d Delacroix, an d th at of the seventies, w hen he
attem p ted to u nite w ith these the im agery a n d vision o f D aum ier. B ut
88
so sch em atic a su m m ary h ard ly does ju stice to th e com plexity o f D egass

art, the p ro d u c t of a su b tle in teractio n of all three tendencies d u rin g
m uch of his m aturity. N or does it acknow ledge th a t sense of challenge,
alm ost of exhilaration, th a t he seem s to have felt in resp o n d in g to all
th ree sim ultaneously.
a p pen d ix
Degass Notes
on Two Portraits by Ingres
The follow ing notes are am ong a large n u m b e r th a t Degas w rote late
in life1904 is the latest d ate m en tio n ed in th e m as an inventory of
th e p rincip al p ain tin g s a n d draw ings in his collection; h ith erto u n p u b
lished, they are in a priv ate archive in P aris.138 The longest an d m ost
interesting are also the m ost relevant here, those on In g res's p o rtraits
of M. an d M m e Leblanc, w hich Degas ch erish ed as the m asterpieces
of his collection a n d co n tem p lated giving to the Louvre: T hen I shall
go an d sit in fro n t of th e m , he told Daniel Halvy, and look at them
a n d think a b o u t w h at a noble d eed I have d o n e. 139 In fact, he w as unab le
to p art w ith them , an d it w as only at the p o sth u m o u s sale o f his collec
tion in 1918 th a t they w ere acq u ired by a n o th e r m useum , th e M etro
p o lita n .140 H is no tes on them sh ed light not only on his h ab its an d
attitu d es as a collector, b u t on the h istory of these p o rtraits, including
an u n su sp ected alteratio n m ad e to one of them .
Ingres. Portraits of M. and Mme Leblanc, painted in Florence in 1823,
bought at the Htel [Drouot], the man for 3500, the woman for 7500, [total]
with the charges 11,550, January 23, 1896, in a sale after the death of Mme
Place, their daughter.
I remember having seen these portraits in 1854 in the home of M. Leblanc,
their son, in the Rue de la Vieille Estrapade, a house with an iron fence
that still exists, on the ground floor. M. Poisson-Sguin, a lawyer and friend
of Fathers, took us there with his wife. The younger M. Leblanc was an
assistant teacher at the Ecole Polytechnique. I saw these portraits again
in 1855, at the Worlds Fair, on the Avenue Montaigne. Mme Place obtained
these portraits from her brother, a bachelor, who came to live with her
after the death of her husband and who died before her.
ThreeGreat Draftsmen
89
T here w ere [also] p o rtra its in pencil: M m e a n d M. L eblanc standing,

w hich e n te re d B o n n a ts c o lle ctio n ;141 th e y o ung L eblanc, w hich w as o n ce
ow ned by A lbert G oupil a n d w hich G erom e, his heir, sold to M m e de
S cey -M o n tb eliard ;142 tw o oth ers, a m an an d a you n g w o m an w ith h e a d
b a n d s [an d ] leg-of-m utton sleeves w ho could well h av e b e e n th e young
M m e P lace.143 T hese tw o d raw in g s w ere sold to g eth er a t th e sam e sale to
M organd, of th e P assage d es P an o ram as, a n d sold by h im to B o n n a t (at
the sale, sold for 2160 F rancs). I also h av e the tw o p h o to g ra p h ic re p ro
d u ctio n s of th e tw o full-length p o rtra its in p e n cil th a t B o n n at gave to the
family.
T he fam ily, w h en ce th e tw o large p o rtra its h ad n ev er em erg ed , h a d h a d
th e b ack g ro u n d o f th e m an rep a in te d , in o rd e r to m ake it id en tical to th a t
o f the w om an . I w as able to have it rem o v ed in m y p resen ce, easily e n o u g h
to prove th a t this revision m u st n o t h av e b een m o re th a n te n y ears o ld .144
T he [original] re d b a ck g ro u n d w as fo u n d in ta c t.145 T h ere are fools am ong
the aristo c ra ts as well as elsew here.
Ill
Pictures
within Pictures
A hree of the paintings in the M etropolitan M useum s great collection

of works by DegasThe Collector o f Prints, James Tissot in an A rtists
Studio, and Sulking (or The Banker)are doubly intriguing as images
because oth er im ages are represented w ithin them . The anonym ous
collector [65] is su rro u n d ed by a variety of objects, including color prints
of flowers in the portfolio and on the table, a statuette of a horse in
the cupboard, and w hat ap p ear to be fragm ents of w allpaper, calling
cards, photographs, and envelopes on the bulletin board. The artist
Tissot [68] is seated in a studio am id pictures of rem arkably diverse
subject m atter and style: at the top, a Jap an ese or pseudo-Japanese
garden scene; at the sides, landscapes with figures in tw o types of
m odern dress; behind the easel, a colorful sketch o f a narrative episode;
and in the center, a small, serene, richly fram ed portrait. And the two
people in Sulking [83] are seen against a large engraving of a steeple
chase, w hose strenuous action provides a foil for their brooding inertia
and also seem s to offer a clue to the m ystery of their identities and
relationship. In each of these paintings, the presence of w orks of art
that are distinctly different in subject, scale, and visual texture from the
larger w ork com plicates and enriches o u r experience of the latter to an
extraordinary degree.1 For the m inor picture is n o t only an independent
creation w ith its own content and circum scribed field, b u t a m eans of
extending or dividing the m ajo r field and of deepening the content of
90
Pictures w ithin Pictures
91
its im agery throug h form al o r icono g rap h ic analogies. In doing so, the
sm aller w ork also calls atten tio n to th e artificial aspects of th e larger
one in w hich it occurs, rem in d in g us th a t even pictu res su ch as these
three, all p ain ted betw een 1866 a n d 1871, in the m o st n atu ralistic period
of D egass developm ent, are afte r all p ro d u cts of his m ind and hand,
like the m ore visibly co ntrived w orks w'ithin th em .2
In these respects, th e pictu re w ithin th e p ictu re is analogous to the
literary devices of the play w ithin the play an d th e n arrativ e flashback,
w hich likewise reveal the am biguous relation to reality of the w'orks in
w hich they appear. In the visual arts, it is sim ilar to tw o o th e r m otifs
th a t Degas frequen tly em ployed, at tim es in c o n ju n ctio n w ith th a t of
the picture; nam ely, the m irro r w hose su rface reflects in a co n d en sed
a n d essentially pictorial form a secto r of the visual field before it, an d
th e w indow or doorw ay w hose fram e in tercep ts in a fixed an d equally
60. Degas, The Interior, 1892. Oil on canvas.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Saul Horowitz, New York
92
pictorial m a n n e r a secto r of the larger field beh in d it. F requently he

ju x tap o sed th ese effects in a single w ork: in Yves Go billard-Morisot, to
take an exam ple in the M etropolitan M useum , by fram ing h e r h ead
betw een a doorw ay at one side th a t op en s onto a g ard en an d a m irro r
at the o th e r th at reflects a p o rtio n o f th e room itself; an d in The D ancers
Green R oom , a n o th e r exam ple in the M useum , by rep resen tin g som e
of th e figures in the b ack g ro u n d as reflected in a cheval glass a n d a wall
m irro r a n d o th ers as glim psed th ro u g h an o pening into an a d jac e n t
ro o m .3 In The Interior [60], p ain ted in the h o m e o f his friend Paul
V alpinon in 1892, he achieved a virtual to u r de force in com bining all
th ree m otifs inventively, playing on th e sim ilarities of sh ap e am ong the
fram ed pictures, the m irro r reflections, an d th e doorw ay vista, while
preserving an effect of in fo rm ality th ro u g h th e lighting an d choice of
view point.4
Surprisingly, this fascination w ith the tension betw een the artificial
and the n a tu ra l in painting, w hich seem s so ch aracteristic of the m atu re
Degas, w as already p resen t in his earliest co m m ent on a n d experim ents
w ith the p ictu re in the picture. In a no teb o o k d ating from 1855, th e very
beginning o f his career, h e re m ark ed on a w aterco lo r by J. B. F o rtu n
de F ournier, a view of th e T ribuna of the Uffizi; and d espite its m in iatu re
scale, he w as able to identify the R aphael p o rtraits rep ro d u ced in it an d
to distinguish th eir styles.5 On a page in a n o tebook used aro u n d 1860
[61], he p a ste d tw o sketches of c o n tem p o rary figures and a copy after
G iorgiones Fte Champtre, then drew at the bo tto m a couple w ho
ap p e a r to look at the G iorgione, so th at the spatially n eu tral page is
converted in to an illusion of a w all in th e L ouvres G ran d e G alerie.6
E lsew here in th e sam e n o tebook, he sk etch ed a ra th e r prosaic couple
conversing in a business office, th en co m m en ted on th e b o red o m of th eir
situation by a d d in g an a m u sin g m otif, a child w ho tu rn s his b ack on
th em to co n tem p late a p ictu re h anging on th e re a r w all.7
W hen its fu n ctio n s are conceived in th e general term s ju s t discussed,
th e picture obviously can o c cu r in any im age show ing a conventional
interior; as su ch it occurs o ften in the w ork o f Degas, w ho w as m ore
deeply in terested th a n an y a rtist of his tim e in recreatin g the a p p e aran ce
of the reh earsal room s, m illinery shops, offices, cafs, an d salons in
w hich his co n tem p o raries w orked an d lived.8 In fact, w hen the critic
61.
Degas, Studies of Figures and
Copy after Giorgione, ca. 1860.
Pencil.
D uranty asserted in The N ew Painting, We will no longer separate the

person from the ap artm en t setting. . . . Around him and behind him are
furniture, a fireplace, w allpaper, a wall that reveals his fortune, his class,
and his profession, he illustrated this N aturalist program w ith identifi
able paintings by D egas.9 It is not surprising, then, th at several of the
ones we shall discuss are, like Sulking, im ages of an office or draw ing
room , am ong w hose carefully depicted furnishings a picture seem s
naturally to belong. It m ay even allude to the profession of the person
portrayed, like the lithograph behind the m usician Pilet [88], or to his
social status or aspiration, like the portrait behind Thrse Morbilli [77],
or to his relation to the artist him self, like the draw ing behind Degas's
aunt in The Bellelli Family [7].
But if these w orks reflect the N aturalism of his own age, they are also
94
indebted to th a t o f th e sev en teen th century, especially in H olland, w here

R em brand t, H als, a n d V erm eer h ad often depicted paintings, m irrors,
and m ap s in the b ack g ro u n d s of th eir p o rtraits an d genre scenes, bo th
to heighten th eir verisim ilitude a n d to d eepen th eir visual reso n an ce and
sym bolism .10 A ppropriately, this w as first observed in th e w ork of
V erm eer by th e N atu ralist critic T hor, w ho w as largely resp o n sib le for
rediscovering th a t artist in the 1860s.11 Degas later acknow ledged his
deb t to D utch art, rem ark in g th a t w hen we w ere beginning, Fantin,
W histler, an d I and th e o th er tw o also experim ented frequently w ith
th e picture in the p ictu re in th eir early w o rk we w ere on the sam e
path, th e road from H o llan d . 12
In m ost cases, how ever, th e kind of m ilieu we will discuss is no t sim ply
a m odern office o r d raw ing room , b u t th a t of an individual w ho is
professionally co n cern ed w ith th e creation or criticism of art. Like the
p o rtra it of Tissot, th o se o f H enri R o u art [93] an d a h ith erto unidentified
artist [91] show D egass colleagues in th e ir studios, su rro u n d ed by w hat
a p p e a r to be th eir ow n w orks. And like the p o rtra it of a p rin t collector,
those of H lne R o u art [100] an d the critic Diego M artelli [94] show
his friends in th eir ap artm e n ts, w ith th e p aintings an d o bjects in th eir
possession. In a public version of the latter type, M ary C assatt is p o r
trayed with a com panion, co n tem p latin g pictu res in the L ouvres G rande
G alerie [95] o r a sarco p h ag u s in its E tru sc a n gallery [97],13 In these
im ages, w e en c o u n te r th e studios, collections, and m u seu m s th at co n sti
tu ted D egass ow n w orld, w here he w as equally at hom e as an artist,
as a distinguished collector, an d as an au th o rity on trad itio n al art.
Pictures of a w orld in w hich p ictu res them selves are th e m ost co n sp icu
ous objects, they are ideal expressions of th a t v eneration o f a rt an d the
artificial w hich w as so ch aracteristic of his thought.
But like his im ages of m ore conventional interiors, they belong to a
historical tradition, th a t of the rep rese n ta tio n o f the a rtists stu d io and
the collecto rs cabinet. F or in the self-portraits an d p ain ted g alleries
th a t have been p o p u la r in E u ro p ean a rt since th e sixteenth century, the
w orks show n su rro u n d in g the su b ject serve also to identify his p ro fe s
sion o r avocation, to ch aracterize his taste o r in terests, a n d to sym bolize
th e relation of a rt an d n a tu re in g en e ra l.14 As a young m an, Degas had
copied a fte r one exam ple of this type, B ro n zin o s Portrait o f a Sculptor,
95
and h ad u n d o u b ted ly stu d ied ano th er, The Picture Bearers in M antegnas
Triumph o f Caesar series.15 But m ore im p o rtan t, he h ad p ain ted a v aria
tion on one of the m o st in terestin g exam ples o f all, V elazquezs Maids
o f H onor, w here the m ythological p ictu res on th e re a r wall, the m irro r
below th em reflecting th e king an d q ueen, and the doorw ay beside it,
in w hich a cou rt official is silhouetted, function sim u ltan eo u sly as spatial
an d sym bolic m o tifs.16
h e i n g e n i o u s use of th ese devices in The Maids o f Honor, an im age

of the artist's stu d io th a t is also a p o rtra it of th e royal fam ily, m ay well
have been w hat inspired Degas to em ploy them in the im pressive group
po rtrait in w hich his early stu d ies of trad itio n al a rt culm inated, The
Bellelli Family [7] of 1859-1860.17 H ere, too, the picture, th e m irror, and
the doorw ay serve bo th to extend the in terio r space, w hich is m u ch m ore
shallow th a n in th e Velazquez, an d to d eep en its expressive significance
by m eans of analogies. T hus th e som ber, u p rig h t figure of D egass au n t
is placed against a wall w hose h ard flatness is b roken only by the narrow
doorw ay a n d the sharply defined pictu re fram e, w hile th e lighter, m ore
recessive figure o f his uncle is seen ag ain st a m antelp iece su rm o u n ted
by sm all ob jects and a m irro r reflecting th e b lu rred an d lu m inous form s
of a chandelier, a painting, an d a second m irror. A lthough this co n trast
co rresponded to lin ear a n d coloristic ten d en cies w hich, as we saw in
C h apter II, w ere already p resen t in D egas's a rt a t the tim e ,18 it u n d o u b t
edly also expressed his insight into tensions w ithin th e Bellelli household.
He had in fact been living w ith th em in F lorence for several m o n th s
before he u n d erto o k the am bitious p o rtrait, an d m u st have perceived
the great distance betw een h u sb a n d an d wife, a d istan ce th a t he has
in effect m ade visible in his com position. F or shortly afte r h e retu rn ed
to Paris, his uncle Achille, ap p aren tly replying to D egass ow n o b serv a
tions, adm itted: "The d o m estic life o f th e fam ily in F lorence is a source
o f u n h ap p in ess for us. As I predicted, on e o f them is very m u ch at fau lt
and o u r sister a little, too. In co m p atib ility o f p ersonality and back g ro u n d
and as a result a lack of affection a n d leniency th a t enlarges like a
m agnifying glass th e in d iv id u als n a tu ra l fau lts. 19 E xpressive o f this
estrangem ent, and p e rh a p s also o f th e c o u p les roles, are th e dissim ilar
96
objects show n b ehind th em in D egass p o rtra itth e am biguous, receding

im ages in the m irro r an d the clear, ad vancing sh ap e of the draw ing.
W hen its su b ject an d a u th o r are recognized, the draw ing [62] acquires
additional significance.20 It ap p ears to be a stu d y for th e etch ed an d
pain ted p o rtra its of his g ran d fath er, R ene-H ilaire d e Gas, th a t Degas
m ade in N aples a ro u n d 1857, w hich show him w earing th e sam e p eaked
cap an d reading glasses an d sitting in the sam e p osition [63].21 B ut since
this stu d y is o therw ise u n k n o w n an d does n o t reverse the im age in
th e etching, it m ay never have existed, b u t m ay in stead have been based
on the etching an d m ad e to look like a sanguine draw ing. A bout a year
after Degas h ad executed the p o rtraits in N aples an d gone on to Rom e
an d then to Florence, R ene-H ilaire d ie d .22 His d au g h te r L aure an d her
d aughters w ere still w earing m o u rn in g fo r him w hen Degas m ad e studies
of th em in p rep aratio n for the group p o rtra it in th e w in ter of 1858-1859.
In th a t w ork, p ain ted in P aris th e follow ing year, he in tro d u ced a n im age
of th eir deceased relative in th e form of his p u tativ e draw ing, placing
it directly b ehind th em a n d so n e ar L aure B ellellis h ead th a t one inevi
tably connects them . In doing so, he w as follow ing a w ell-established
62.
Detail of Figure 7
63 {opposite).
Degas, Ren-Hilaire de Gas,
ca. 1857. Etching.
Art Institute of Chicago, The
Stickney Collection, ] 943.1059
97
tradition: the im age o f his g ra n d fa th e r plays precisely th e sam e role in

The Bellelli Family as th e effigies of a n cesto rs th a t have a p p eared in
E u ro p ean p o rtraits since the R enaissance, especially in N etherlandish
group p o rtraits: in The Van B erchem Family by F ran s Floris, for exam ple,
the prom inently displayed im age of th e deceased m e m b er u n ites him
w ith the living ones sh o w n eating, conversing, an d playing m u sic.23 T hat
the draw ing, if it existed, w as by Degas h im self w as n o less m eaningful,
for it subtly identified h im w ith his a u n t an d affirm ed his presence, if
only as an artist-observer, in h e r hom e. His relation to h e r m u st have
been u n u su ally close, to ju d g e from th e to n e of h e r letters to him after
he re tu rn e d to Paris, in one of w hich she n o ted bitterly: You m u st be
very hap p y to be w ith y o u r fam ily again, in stead of being in th e presence
o f a sad face like m ine an d a disag reeab le one like m y h u sb a n d s.24
As a w ork of art, re m ark ab ly accom plished d esp ite its sm all scale, th e
p o rtra it draw ing in The Bellelli Family also testifies to D egass artistic
progress, w hich w as at th e tim e m o st evident in ju s t this type of dignified
fam ily p o rtrait, an d w hich he h as ch aracteristically identified w ith skill
ful d raftsm an sh ip . At th e sam e tim e, it h in ts a t one of th e sources of
his early p o rtraitu re ; for its th ree -q u a rte r view of th e h ead an d bust,
its delicate red-chalk technique, even its trad itio n al blue m at an d gold
fram e, give it th e a p p ea ra n c e o f a R enaissance draw ing, especially one
by th e C louets o r th eir school, w hich it resem b les also in its use of
co stu m e.25 B efore going to Italy in 1856, Degas h ad copied a red-chalk
draw ing of this type, form erly considered a self-p o rtrait by F ranois
Clouet; an d on his re tu rn , he rep ro d u ce d a p o rtra it of E lizabeth of
64.
Degas, Studies for
The Bellelli Family,
1859. Pencil.
<
*
Bibliothque Nation
ale, Paris
98
A ustria attrib u te d to the sam e a rtist.26 This am bition to rival th e p erfec

tion of R enaissance a rt w as u n d o u b ted ly w h at led him to lavish so m u ch
atten tio n on th e b ack g ro u n d of The Bellelli Family, including th e carefully
ren d ered fram e on his draw ing. A m ong the m an y p rep a rato ry studies,
th ere is even one [64] in w hich he envisaged th e en tire p ain tin g as it
w ould a p p e a r w hen fram ed, a n d drew in detail the type of L ouis XVI
m olding th a t he w ould u se.27 A lready p re se n t h ere is th a t ch aracteristic
notion of th e w ork of a rt as an artifice w hich w ould lead him to re p ro
duce w ith equal care th e R en aissan ce fram e in th e b ack g ro u n d of his
p o rtrait of Tissot [68] an d to copy p a rt of a B aro q u e fram e in the Louvre
in p rep aratio n for his p o rtra it of M ary C assatt [96],
In The Collector o f Prints [65], p ain ted a b o u t six years la te r than The
Bellelli Family, Degas virtually reversed the roles o f the figure and th e
65.
Degas, The Collector of

Prints, 1866. Oil on canvas.
New York, The H. 0. Havemeyer Collection, bequest of
Mrs. H. O. Havemcyer, 29.100.44
66 (right).
Detail of Figure 65
67 (far right).
Pocketbook covers, Japanese,
XVIII-XIX century. Woven
silk.
Victoria and Albert Museum,
London
99
b ackground picture, giving th e latter a p ro m in en ce an d in terest th at

alm ost outw eigh th o se o f th e fo rm er.28 A ppropriately, th e an onym ous
subject m u st be co n sid ered a type ra th e r th a n an individual, the type
of old-fashioned co llector w ho flourished d u rin g th e S econd E m pire, and
w hom Degas h ad m e t as a young m a n in the co m p an y of his father. R e
calling those visits m an y years later, he dw elled on precisely th a t d ed ic a
tion to a rt an d indifference to self w hich seem to characterize th e an o n y
m ous figure in his p ainting: "A room in w hich canvases w ere piled u p
pell-m ell. . . . [M arcille] w ore a h o o d ed cape an d a used hat. People in
those days all w ore u sed hats. LaCaze, ah! LaCaze, too, w ore a used
h a t. 29 Ind eed , the d escrip tio n w ould apply equally well to Degas h im self
in his old age and to su ch d ed ica ted am ateurs a m o n g his frien d s as Paul
L afond an d A lphonse Cherfils, o f w hom he p ain ted a sy m p ath etic d o u b le
p o rtrait th a t show s them seated together, gazing in ten tly at a sm all
canvas [59].30 H ere, as in th e roughly co n tem p o rary p ictu re of an u n
identified collector b en d in g over a p rin t to exam ine it m ore closely,
Degas w as evidently in sp ired by the exam ple of D aum ier, w hose p a in t
ings of am ateurs scrutinizing th e w orks on display in p rin t sellers stalls
o r adm iring th e o b jects in each o th e rs a p a rtm e n ts [58] likewise focus
on the intensity o f th eir co n cen tratio n , th e con su m in g q uality of th eir
p assion.31 In co n tra st to these, The Collector o f Prints show s an in tro
spective and d isen ch an ted perso n , alm o st d e tac h ed from the w orks of
a rt that he idly h an d les o r a p p ears to tu rn his back on. As a result, the
la tte r seem m ore expressive in th eir fascinating stylistic diversity o f his
real interests.
The objects su rro u n d in g him a re in d eed rem ark ab ly varied, an d in-
100
Degas: The A rtist's M ind
elude exam ples of p o p u lar as well as so p h isticated art, from th e F ar

E ast as well as E urope; an d significantly, th ey are seen as rep resen tativ e
types ra th e r th an u n iq u e w orks. In the collectors p ortfolio a n d on the
table beh in d him are som e o f the sm all color litho g rap h s o f roses for
w hich Pierre R edout, the so-called R aphael of flow ers, h ad becom e
fam ous earlier in th e cen tu ry .32 In th e c u p b o a rd is a ceram ic statu e tte
of a horse, evidently one of those p ro d u ced in C hina d u rin g the Tang
Dynasty: th e positions of th e legs on the sm all base, the bow ed head,
a n d the flaring n ostrils are ch aracteristic o f this type, w hich Degas has
W esternized in ren d erin g the an ato m y an d h a ir realistically.33 O riental
and O ccidental styles arc also ju x ta p o sed in th e o b jects placed on the
bulletin b o a rd and in serted in its fram e [66], for the sm aller ones are
such typically E u ro p ean p ro d u c ts as envelopes, calling cards, and p h o
tographs, placed ag ain st pieces o f w allpaper, w hile th e larger, m ore
vividly colored ones are frag m en ts of Ja p a n e se w oven silk.34 A daring
com position, a p p aren tly w ith o u t o rd er yet u ltim ately b alanced, the
bulletin b o ard sym bolizes b o th the co llecto rs fascin atio n w ith even such
sm all, alm o st w orthless scrap s of p a p e r an d fabric, a n d th e a rtists
recognition o f aesth etic qualities in th eir very pro fu sio n o f overlapping
shapes, diagonal stripes, a n d su rp risin g spots of color.
By far th e m ost im p o rta n t elem ents in this design are the fragm ents
of Jap an ese w oven silks, w hich w ere e ith er cu t from larger fabrics or
m an u factu re d as such, to be sew n into covers for p o cketbooks an d into
ja c k e t linings. P opular am o n g F rench collectors from the 1860s on, they
w ere ad m ired for th eir w o rk m an sh ip a n d ra re color h arm onies, w hat
E d m o n d de C o n co u rt, a p io n eer am o n g these co nnoisseurs, describ ed
as consisting entirely o f b ro k en chords, delightful to th e eye of a co lo r
ist.35 Degas an d th e G oncourts w ere not, of course, alone at th e tim e
in ap p reciatin g these novel qualities. A m ong th e o th e r w riters, artists,
a n d craftsm en in Paris w ho also began to collect Jap a n ese a rt in these
years w ere D egass friends M anet, W histler, Tissot, F an tin -L ato u r, Flix
B racquem o n d , Z acharie A struc, an d A lfred S tevens.36 H ow ever, the
m ajority of th em w ere a ttra c ted prim arily to its u n u su a l form s an d exotic
a p p earan ce, a n d as a resu lt p ain ted in terio rs filled w ith Ja p an e se screens,
ceram ics, costum es, and figures w ith vaguely O riental features, o f w hich
W histlers G olden Screen of 1864 an d T issots Young W oman H olding
Japanese Objects o f 1869 are good ex am p les.37
101
Degas w as one of th e few w ho atte m p te d in stead to assim ilate th e

distinctive stylistic featu res o f Ja p an e se art. In c o n tra st to th e color
w oodcuts a t th e rig h t side o f The G olden Screen, w hich are cleverly
arranged b u t rem ain w ithin a trad itio n a l persp ectiv e space, th e w oven
silks in th e b ack g ro u n d o f The Collector o f Prints fo rm a p a tte rn o f flat,
p iquantly silhouetted an d colored sh ap es. M oreover, th e p a tte rn itself
closely resem bles one o f th o se o ften fo u n d in Ja p a n e se fab rics o f th e
type th a t D egas h as sh o w n [67].38 S u ch a fab ric re p re se n ts th e scattere d
cards used in a p o p u la r Ja p a n e se gam e, som e of w hich b e a r fam iliar
poem s an d others th e p o rtra its of fam o u s poets, th e o b jec t being to
m atch each p oem w ith th e c o rresp o n d in g p o rtrait. T h at co m p o sitio n s
of this kind w ere know n in F ran ce a t the tim e is clear fro m A stru cs
referen ce in 1867 to th a t cu rio u s a n d L illiputian page en g rav ed w ith
the h u n d re d Jap an e se poets, show n in a little design th a t also in clu d es
a fam ous excerpt from th e ir p o e try .39 The effects o f co n d en satio n ,
ra n d o m d istrib u tio n , a n d c u ttin g at th e edges th a t o c c u rre d in su ch
designs w ere obviously w h at drew Degas to them , a n d as su ch th ey
an ticip ated precisely the effects he w ould achieve a d e c a d e la te r in his
ow n com positions.
An e x a m p l e of Jap a n e se art, o r ra th e r an im itatio n of one, also a p p e ars
in the b ack g ro u n d of D egass p o rtra it of T issot [68], p a in te d in the sam e
years as The Collector o f Prints ,40 an d this tim e in a design w hich,
alth o u g h severely classical in its o v erlap p in g a n d interlo ck in g rectangles,
like those in P o u ssin s fam o u s Self-Portrait in the L ouvre, show s an even
g reater taste for the cu ttin g o f form s at its edges. All b u t one o f the
six p ictu res in the b ack g ro u n d are in te rc ep ted by o th e r elem en ts, th ree
o f th em by th e fram e. As a result, they seem m o re vital th a n T issot
him self, w ho assu m es a singularly passive attitu d e, a k ind of eleg an t
n o n chalance. N either actively at w ork in his ow n stu d io n o r clearly a
visitor to a n o th e r a rtistsan d the slen d er w alking stick th a t could also
be a m ah lstick h eld idly in his h a n d ,41 the h a t a n d co a t placed casually
on th e tab le b eh in d him , only h eig h ten this am b ig u ity h e tu rn s sidew ays
on the ch air a n d lean s on th e table, c o n fro n tin g us w ith an ex pression
th a t is at once w orldly a n d w orld-w eary.42 T h at this im age o f th e a rtist
as a dan d y w as an a p p ro p ria te one for Tissot, w ho w as alread y becom ing
th e fash io n ab le p a in te r w ho w o u ld late r specialize in scenes of V ictorian
103
68. Degas, James Tissot in an Artists Studio, 1866-1868. Oil on canvas.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 39.161
high life, seem s evident enough. But th a t Degas also expressed in it his
ow n conception of th e a rtist becom es equally clear w hen it is com p ared
w ith his self-portraits of th ese years, w here he ap p ears as a som ew hat
h aughty gentlem an, defensive an d slightly ironic [e.g. I].43 H ence w hat
is m ost ch aracteristic in his p o rtra it o f Tissot, w h at d istinguishes it from
the m ore p ro saic pictu res of th e a rtist in his stu d io p ain ted by the young
Im p ressio n ists at this tim e, derives as m u ch from Degas h im self as from
his subject. And this id entification m anifests itself n o t only in the a m b i
guities already m entioned, but in the p aintings su rro u n d in g the figure,
since m ost of th em could have been p ro d u ced by Degas as well as by
T issot at this m o m en t in th e ir careers.
Significantly, no n e of the five canvases w hose faces we see is a know n
w ork by eith er artist, an d only one can be identified at all. This is the
sm all, handsom ely fram ed p ictu re h an g in g n e a r T issots h ead [69], w hich
69. Detail of Figure 68
70 (above).
Cranach workshop,
Frederick the Wise,
after 1532. Oil on
wood.
104
is a free copy a fte r a p o rtra it o f F rederick the Wise, a ttrib u te d to

C ranach, in th e Louvre [70].44 S uch a copy could easily have existed
in eith er a rtist's studio, th o u g h m o re easily p e rh a p s in T isso ts, since
the m eticulously p ain ted genre scenes in w hich he h ad specialized in
th e early 1860s w ere clearly d ep e n d en t on G erm an R enaissance art, o r
ra th e r on the neo-G erm anic a rt of H en rik Leys, a p o p u la r Belgian
artist w ith w hom he w as o ften co m p ared at the tim e.45 This w ould
acco u n t no t only for the p resen ce of a copy after C ranach in T issots
studio, b u t for its evid en t analogy' w ith th e p o rtra it of him self. A lthough
subtly co n traste d in coloring, b o th head s are tu rn ed to w ard the right,
su rm o u n ted by a d ark m ass, a n d m ark ed by a d ro o p in g m oustache, as
if to suggest th e stylistic affinities of th e tw o artists by a physiognom ic
one. H ow ever, th e m a n n e r in w hich the copyist has elim inated th e G othic
features of his m odel an d m ad e its form s m ore com pact and legible
suggests th a t he w as a less p ed an tic a rtist th an T issotin fact, w as one
w ith the classical taste of Degas. F o r it is also conceivable th a t this copy
once h u n g in his ow n studio: he, too, a p p reciated G erm an R enaissance
art, h ad d raw n rep eated ly after w orks by H olbein an d Diirer, an d h ad
collected p h o to g rap h s of oth ers by C ranach an d D iirer.46 In fact, in a
n o tebook o f the early 1860s he refe rre d to this very p o rtrait of F rederick
the W ise as a m odel of firm draw in g an d su b tle coloring for a p o rtra it
he w as then p lan n in g .47
Like the copy a fte r C ranach, the ho rizo n tal p ictu re of Ja p a n ese w om en
in a gard en [71], w hich exten d s across the to p of D egass com position,
is not the h istorical w ork it ap p ea rs to be, b u t ra th e r a m o d ern copy
or im itation. F or if its fo rm at is th a t of a five-sheet Jap a n e se w oodcut,
or of a scroll of the m a kim o n o type, an d if its figures w ear O riental
costum es and are seen in a lan d scap e partly closed by p artitio n s and
latticed w indow s in the O riental m an ner, th e style in w hich it is p ain ted
is thoroughly W estern. The m odeling an d cast shadow s o f th e w om en,
th eir recession into dep th , and the atm o sp h eric space all p o in t to th a t
conclusion. B ehind this J a p a n e s e p ictu re is u n d o u b ted ly a polyptych
color w oo d cu t by one of the follow ers of U tam aro, such as E vening
u nder the M urm uring Pines by Eishi [72], an artist w hose figural style
it particu larly recalls an d w ho w as am o n g the first of the Ukiyo-e school
to becom e know n in F ran ce.48
Pictures w ith in P ictures
105

T h a t T isso t w a s o n e o f th e e a rlie s t c o lle c to rs o f th is a rt w e h av e
a lre a d y se e n ; th a t h e w as also o n e o f th e m o s t e n th u s ia stic , w e le a rn
fro m a le tte r w ritte n by R o sse tti in 1864: I w e n t to th e J a p a n e s e sh o p
[of M m e d e S oye], b u t fo u n d th a t all th e c o stu m e s w ere b e in g s n a p p e d
u p by a F re n c h a rtist, T isso t, w h o it se e m s is d o in g th re e J a p a n e s e
p ic tu re s, w h ic h th e m istre ss o f th e s h o p d e s c rib e d to m e a s th e th re e
w o n d e rs o f th e w o rld .49 U n fo rtu n a te ly , n o n e o f th e m c a n b e id e n tifie d
w ith c e rta in ty , b u t it is likely th a t th e y re s e m b le d T iss o ts Japanese
W om an a t the B a th o f 1865, a w o rk th a t m a k e s c o n sp ic u o u s u se o f a
72. Eishi, Evening under the M urm uring Pines, ca. 1800. Color woodcut.
British Museum, London
106
F ar E astern co stu m e an d setting, b u t rem ain s alto g eth er W estern in

com position an d style.50 H ence th e p ictu re in D egass p o rtrait, w hich
ap p ears m o re au th en tically O riental in su b ject as well as design, can
h ardly rep ro d u ce any of th e p ictu res m en tio n ed by R ossetti, th o u g h it
m ay well allude to them . Like th e w oven silks show n in The Collector
o f Prints, it also reflects D egass ow n in terest in Jap a n e se art, an in terest
only slightly less keen th a n th a t o f T issot, according to E rn est C hesneau
and o th er co n tem p o raries.51 And since it does not rep resen t an actu al
w ork, w h eth er Ja p a n ese o r p seu d o -Jap an ese, but is im provised in the
m an n er of both, it m ay well be D egass u n iq u e a tte m p t to p ro d u ce such
a w orkno t alto g eth er seriously, b u t in the guise o f one th a t Tissot
him self h ad p ain ted , an d in this friendly com petition clearly cap tu rin g
a m ore convincingly O riental look.
If the fram ed and relatively com plete C ra n a c h an d Ja p a n e se
pictures m ay never have existed, the th ree seen in an u n fram ed , frag
m en tary sta te w ere even m ore obviously inven ted to fill the perip h eral
spaces they occupy. Pictorially, they re p re sen t styles distinctly different
from those ju s t discussed, yet equally indicative of in terests sh ared by
D egas and Tissot, at least at this tim e in th eir careers. Thus, th e p icture
p laced on an easel at the right [73] show s figures in m o d ern dress seated
o u td o o rs in the m a n n e r of early Im p ressio n ist picnic scenes. One of
these, a L u n ch eo n on the Grass p ain ted by Tissot him self aro u n d 1865
[74], w hen he h ad a b a n d o n e d his earlier neo-G erm anic style an d w as
assim ilating th e m ore ad v an ced n atu ralistic style of M onet an d his
colleagues, m ay well be th e kind of p ictu re th a t Degas h ad in m in d .52
B ut if it seem s bro ad ly p ain ted in relation to T issots earlier w ork, it
lacks the vivid o u td o o r light an d boldly sim plified form s fo u n d in th e
picnic scene invented by Degas, w hereas these are precisely th e qualities
th a t ch aracterize som e of his ow n pictu res o f these years, a m o n g them
the brilliant oil sketch o f Three W om en Seated O utdoors.53
The sam e is tru e of th e p ictu re placed on the table beh in d T issot [75],
w hich serves as a p e n d a n t to th e o th e r one a n d w ith it encloses the
exam ples of historic an d exotic a rt show n betw een them . F or it, too,
rep resen ts people in co n tem p o rary co stu m ew om en in capes an d b o n
nets seated b en eath tall trees, girls in strip ed d resses ru n n in g am ong
th em and in a m a n n e r rem in iscen t of such recen t w orks as M anets
107
Concert in the Tuileries G ardens.5* And it, too, is m ore vividly colored
a n d m ore boldly executed th a n any ex ta n t p ainting by Tissot, although
there is nothing really co m p arab le in su b je c t am o n g th e know n w orks
of Degas either.
Even m ore puzzling is th e large canvas leaning ag ainst th e wall b ehind
the easel [73J, w hich a p p aren tly re p resen ts The F inding of Moses, its
u p p er half show ing th e P h a ra o h s d a u g h te r an d a serv an t descending
to w ard the Nile, its low er h alf a n o th e r serv an t lifting th e in fan t from
his b ask et.55 As an illu stratio n of a biblical episode, d ra m a tic in co n ten t
and p ainted in re so n a n t red a n d green tones, it p rovides a striking
co n trast to the m o d ern picnic scene a d ja c e n t to it. Yet no p ic tu re o f this
su b ject by eith er Degas o r T issot is know n; an d no R en aissan ce version
of itassum ing th a t w h at we see is a copyw ould a rran g e th e ligures
so eccentrically on th e surface, w hich in fact m u st have been im provised
w ithin the irreg u la r sp ace available. B ehind th e im provisation, how ever,
th ere is a historical type, th e d epiction o f The F inding of M oses in late
R enaissance an d B aroque art, p articu larly th a t of th e V enetians and th eir
follow ers. The version in th e L ouvre by C harles de la Fosse [76], for
exam ple, show s the figures in sim ilarly tw isted p o stu res, d isp o sed verti
cally on an inclined g ro u n d plane, an d re n d e re d in sim ilarly w arm
colors.56 M oreover, in th e mid-1860s Venetian art w as of p a rticu lar
in terest to Degas, w ho p a in te d several copies a fte r w orks attrib u te d to
G iorgione, T intoretto, a n d V eronese, in cluding a Finding o f M oses by the
latter w hich w as clearly the p ro to ty p e for La F o sses.57 A few years
earlier, Tissot, too, h ad stu d ied an d copied afte r Venetian art; b u t c h a r
acteristically, he p referred th e m o re so b er style of th e Q uattro cen to , and
w rote to Degas from Venice: T itian s A ssum ption left m e co ld the
T intoretto of St. M ark diving dow n really am azed m eb u t A ndrea M an
tegna an d Bellini delighted m e,58 Like th e o th e r p ictu res in D egass
p o rtrait, then, the V enetian one reflects artistic in te re sts w hich he
sh ared w ith Tissot, b u t w hich w ere m ore fu n d am en tally his own.
Indeed, only an artist of D egass com plexity could have in v en ted five
p ictures so rem ark ab ly varied in su b je ct an d style, o r have ju x tap o sed
them so deliberately. F o r tak en together, they c o n stitu te a kind o f su m
m ation, a sta te m e n t of his artistic affinities in w h at we now recognize
w as a critical period of tran sitio n for h im self a n d o th ers o f his genera-
108
73.
Detail of Figure 68
74.
Tissot, Luncheon on
the Grass, ca. 1865. Oil
on canvas.
C ollection of A. R. MacW iliiam, L ondon
'
__ b l
"
w ir i i
109
75.
Detail of Figure 68
76.
La Fosse, The Finding
of Moses, ca. 1700. Oil
on canvas.
Musee du Louvre, Paris
110
tion, am ong w hom of course w as Tissot. In effect, Degas asserts his belief
in the relevance for m o d ern a rt of several distinctly d ifferent tendencies:
the artificiality of Ja p an e se p rin ts an d the n atu ralism of E u ro p ean
paintings; the im m ediacy of c o n tem p o rary genre scenes and th e fo rm al
ity of traditio n al p o rtraits an d n arrativ e com positions; th e sober, lin ear
style of th e R enaissance an d th e dram atic, colorful style of th e B aroque.
And in doing so, he expresses in art-historical term s th a t ideal of so p h is
tication an d self-aw areness w hich he has also expressed in psychological
term s in his im age of th e a rtist as a n o n c h a la n t yet cultivated dandy.
richly fram ed p o rtrait and th e am biguously reflecting m irror,
already en c o u n te re d in The Bellelli Family [7], o ccu r again in the b a c k
ground of D egass p o rtra it of his sister, T hrse M orbilli, aro u n d 1869
T he
[77].59 H ere, how ever, th e tw o m otifs are ju x tap o sed in d ep th ra th e r th an

on the p ictu re surface, an d serve to define the perso n ality an d social
statu s of an individual ra th e r th an th e o p p o sed te m p eram en ts of a
m arried couple. F or th ere is a co rresp o n d en ce betw een th e p o rtrait, the
o th er p ictu res in th e room , and the o rn ate can d e lab ra reflected in the
m irror, ju s t as there is betw een these R ococo objects, a t once expensive
a n d an tiq u ated , and the elegant, ra th e r aloof young w om an w ho sta n d s
b efore them , a p p aren tly at h o m e in this richly fu rn ish ed place. Actually
it is h er fa th e rs d raw ing room , an d th e p o rtra it w as p a in ted d u rin g one
o f h er visits to Paris; yet it is an ap p ro p riate setting, rem in d in g us of
h er ow n p alatial hom e in N aples and o f h er p osition as the wife of th e
Duke of M orbilli, a w ealthy cousin w hom she h ad m arried w ith special
p ap al d isp en satio n .60
In an o th er p o rtrait, p ain te d in Paris on th e eve of h e r m arriag e in
1863 [78], Degas show ed T hrse stan d in g in an equally dignified m a n
ner, elegant an d im passive, an d in the back g ro u n d he in tro d u ced an
equally a p p ro p riate d etailan o p en w indow p roviding a glim pse of
N aples, th e city in w hich she w ould soon begin h er m arried life [79].61
77. Degas, Thrse Morbilli, ca. 1869. Pastel.

Formerly collection of Mme David-Weill, Paris
Pictures within Pictures
111
112
78.
Degas, Thrse
de Gas, 1863. Oil
on canvas.
Muse du Louvre,
Paris
In depicting the city and the Gulf of Naples, Degas relied on a w atercolor
sketch that he had m ade in a notebook during a visit in 1860 [80], and
his incorporation of it three years later in the portrait, w here it is fram ed
as carefully as a painting, dem onstrates again how deliberately he
planned such apparently casual background effects.62 As in his im agina
tive use of the m irror and the picture, he drew here on a w ell-established
m otif, widely em ployed in the R om antic period: the m etaphorical w in
dow view or open w indow .63 But he w as probably also inspired by a
recent literary phenom enon, th e detailed description of the m ilieu in the
N aturalist novel, w here a w indow view or a picture frequently plays a
sym bolic role. An exam ple relevant to b oth p o rtraits o f his sister is the
113
79.
Detail of Figure 78
description of Mlle de V arandeuil's bed ro o m in the G o n co u rts novel

G erminie Lacerteux, p u b lish ed in 1865; it evokes h e r a u stere existence
and devotion to a d esp o tic fa th e r by describ in g th e m usty furnishings
and lim ited view s o f th e room to w hich she is confined, th en in tro d u ces
the fath er him self in th e guise of a p o rtra it hanging above h e r bed,
w hich seem ed to b en d dow n over the sick w o m an an d o p p ress h er w ith
its gaze.64
U nlike th e fine chalk d raw ing in The Bellelli Family [62j, the pictu re
in the b ack g ro u n d o f the seco n d p o rtra it o f T hrse, even w hen e x am
in ed in co m p arab le d etail [81], rem ain s a b ro ad ly p a in ted sketch, fea
tureless an d evidently w ith o u t fu rth e r significance for the w hole. Yet it
114
is ren d ered explicitly en ough to be recognized as the Bust o f a W oman

now identified as M m e de P o rtio u x by Jean-B aptiste P erro n n eau th a t
later figured in th e sale of D egass collection ["82].65 And w hen this, ra th e r
th a n the sketchy copy, is co m p ared w ith the im age of T hrse herself,
th e ap p ro p ria te n e ss o f its presen ce behind her, as th e only recognizable
picture am ong all those show n, becom es ap p aren t. A lthough P erro n n eau
rep resen ts a m a tu re w om an in a co n ventional pose, and Degas a y ounger
one posed m ore inform ally, th ere is an obvious affinity in th e tu rn of
th eir heads, th e co m p o su re of th e ir featu res, an d the cool m a n n e r in
w hich they co n fro n t us. T hus th e R ococo po rtrait, discreetly in tro d u ced
into th e b ack g ro u n d o f the Second E m p ire one, places its su b ject in
a larger social co n tex t an d confirm s o u r im pression of h e r personality.
T h at Degas also relied, as w e saw in C h ap ter II, on In g re ss Comtesse
d H aussonville for o th er asp ects o f its style an d im agery does n o t invali
d ate the co m p ariso n he seem s d eliberately to h ave d raw n w ith Perronn e a u s w ork. Ju st how deliberately we can n o t say, since we know nothing
a b o u t his a ttitu d e to w ard T hrse at th e tim e he p ain ted h er p o rtra it.66
But he m ay well h av e sen sed in h e r th a t h au g h tin ess w hich la te r m ade
him observe wryly, d u rin g one of h er visits to Paris, th at m y hom e m u st
be well ap p o in ted , otherw ise the foreign nob les will not flock th ere ,
and w hich she herself expressed in com plaining th a t living n e a r him
is too distressing; h e m akes m oney, b ut n ev er know s w here he sta n d s.67
C ertainly th e c o n tra st betw een his p o rtraits of T hrse an d those of his
younger sister M arguerite, w ho w as m ore artistically inclined an d later
m arried an architect, w ould seem to confirm th is.68
A lthough the p ro v en an ce of P erro n n eau 's B ust o f a W om an can n o t
be traced before its ap p e aran c e in D egass p o rtra it aro u n d 1869, it u n
doubtedly did belong to his father, a cultivated b a n k e r of the old b o u r
geoisie, w ho w as acq u a in te d w ith su ch o u tsta n d in g collectors of eig h t
eenth-centu ry art as Louis LaCaze a n d E udoxe M arcille an d h ad in his
ow n collection several pastels by La Tour, w hich his son also in h erited
b u t later w as obliged to sell.69 T h at Degas, too, ad m ired th e psychological
p en etratio n an d technical acco m p lish m en t o f La Tour a n d P erro n n eau
is evident n ot only from th e m em oirs o f his friend Jacques-E m ile
B lanche an d his niece Je an n e Fvre, b u t from his ow n pastel p o rtra its.70
T hat of T hrse M orbilli is p articu larly rem in iscen t of th e old er m a s te rs
115
palette in its subtle tones o f yellow ochre, pearl gray, claret, an d white.
This ad m iration w as in tu rn p a rt of a revival of in terest in P erro n n eau ,
w hich took place precisely in the 1860s a n d in th e circle o f critics and
collectors to w hich Degas a n d his fa th e r belonged. In these years, an
im p o rtan t pastel by P erro n n eau w as acq u ire d by E m ile Levy, a su ccess
ful p ain ter an d friend of Degas, a n d the G o ncourts d iscussed him in The
A rt o f the E ighteenth Century as "an artist w hom La Tour h a d good
reason to fear an d who, in follow ing b ehind him , m u st o ften have cau g h t
u p w ith h im /71 T hey them selves h a d recently b o u g h t "a m agnificent
pastel by P e rro n n e a u , before w hich they w ould sit in a d o ra tio n , an d
in the sam e years E udoxe M arcille, a friend o f D egass fath er, and
Cam ille G roult, later a friend o f Degas, a d d e d still o th ers to th e ir collec
tio n s.72 H ence no d o u b t his ow n in te re st at th is tim e in th e R ococo
a rtis ts p o rtra itu re a n d his decision to in tro d u ce an exam ple of it into
a po rtrait w hose settin g was, ap p ro p riately , his fa th e rs d raw ing room .

82. Perronneau, Mme Miron de Portioux, 1771. Oil on canvas.
Private collection, New York
83. Degas, Sulking (The Banker), 1869-1871. Oil on canvas.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The H. 0. Havemeyer Col
s m a l l e s t and also th e m ost puzzling of the pictures containing other
pictures is one that Degas painted in the sam e period as Thrse Morbilli,
but with a far m ore obscure intention. Generally called Sulking, and
occasionally The Banker [83], it seem s to w aver betw een the kind of
narrative episode im plied by the first title and the kind of m odern genre
scene im plied by the second.73 The positions and expressions of the two
figures, their relation to each other, even the identity of the setting and
its significance for them , are at once suggestive and am biguous. This
am biguity extends to the large picture that hangs behind them , its
rectangular shape carefully placed to enclose their heads; for its pro m i
nence im plies th at it contains a clue to the m eaning of the whole, yet
it cannot be related easily to their personalities or taste, as in the exam
ples discussed previously.
The
117
A lthough ren d e re d in a b ro ad , sim plified style, this p ictu re w as ob v i

ously copied from an E nglish racing print; m ore specifically, from a
color engraving of a p ain tin g by J. F. H errin g en titled Steeple Chase
Cracks [84].74 It p ro b ab ly belonged to Degas, since he seem s also to have
used the galloping jockey in its low er rig h t co rn er as a m odel for the
one in the foregro u n d o f The False Start, a w ork th a t is exactly co n te m
porary w ith Su lkin g .75 As early as 1861, he h ad observ ed in a n o tebook
th a t th e la n d scap e aro u n d th e stab les at H aras du Pin in N o rm andy w as
absolutely sim ilar to th o se in E nglish color engravings of races an d
h u n ts. 76 B ut w h eth e r th e p resen ce o f a sp o rtin g p rin t in S u lkin g signifies
th a t the m an show n in it is a b o o k m ak er o r h ab itu o f racetrack s, as
has b een suggested, is a n o th e r m a tte r.77 The period w hen it w as painted
w as indeed one of greatly in creased in terest in h orse racin g an d b etting
in F rance: the first agency of o rganized betting, based o n a system of
paris m u tu els th a t is still u sed today, w as fo u n d ed in 1867; an d th e first
periodical devoted exclusively to racing new s, th e Journal des Courses,
edited by Jo sep h Oiler, began to a p p e a r in 1869. By th a t date, O iler's
Agence des Poules, J. S. H a rry s B etting Office, an d th e Office Jo n es w ere
all flourishing in Paris, an d any one of th em could conceivably have
inspired th e setting of D egas's p ic tu re.78
In all likelihood, how ever, it re p rese n ts one o f th e sm all, privately
ow ned b an k s th a t also llo u rish ed at this tim e, before co rp o ra te banking
replaced them ; p erh a p s the b an k on R ue de la V ictoire ow ned by D egass
84.
Herring,
Steeple Chase
Cracks, 1847.
Color engrav
ing.
Bibliothque
Nationale, Paris

86. Degas, Em m a Dobigny, 1869. Oil on canvas.
Collection of Mrs. Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich
father. For the f urnishing and dcor, w hich he has depicted in detailthe
w indow cou n ter fitted with opaque glass at the left, the table piled with
papers in the center, and the rack filled w ith ledgers at the u p p er right,
all of which he studied separately at the site in notebook draw ingsare
those of a banking rath er than a betting office.79 Moreover, it is know n
that Degas, acting through his patron, the singer Jean-B aptiste Faure,
bought back six paintings from his dealer D urand-R uel in M arch 1874,
and that one of them was entitled The Banker.80 In th a t context, too,
of course, an English sporting p rin t w ould have been an appro p riate
elem ent of the dcor. Yet Degass conception of The Banker as an im age
of an exceptional m om ent, charged with anticipation and tension, tra n
scends the purely n aturalistic description of a milieu, and still m ore the
frequently discussed influence of p hotography,81 and seem s instead to
have been inspired by an o th er work of art. This is R em b ran d t's Syndics
o f the D rapers Guild, w hich also rep resen ts a business m eeting th at we
seem to have m om entarily interrupted, one figure turning in virtually
the sam e way to challenge us, and which also has in the background
a picture th a t plays an im p o rtan t rolesymbolically, if n o t com positionally.82
119
If the steeplech ase p rin t does n o t allude to the p ro fessio n al re la

tionship of the tw o p eople in The Banker, it does u n ite th em visually,
its arch of galloping an d leaping h o rses effectively linking th e ir h ead s
[85], and in a m a n n e r th at h eightens th e a p p a re n t ten sio n betw een th em
by providing a co n trastin g im age o f stren u o u s action directly beh in d
them . Indeed, so p o ig n an t is th eir m ood th at som e w riters have so u g h t
a specific n arrativ e content, even a so u rce in co n tem p o rary fiction; b u t
n one has been found, a n d n o n e p ro b ab ly existed.83 F or as in th e later
picture A bsinthe, w hose title is as in acc u ra te as S u lkin g is here, Degas
has n o t illustrated a R ealist novel, b u t ra th e r a th eo ry of expression
sim ilar to th a t of the novelists, a theory th a t he and D uranty, his closest
acq u ain tan ce am o n g the latter, both held at this tim e.84 It was, as we
shall see m ore fully in C h ap ter V, fo rm u lated b o th in D u ran ty s essay
On Physiognom y, p u b lish ed in 1867, an d in D egass c o n tem p o ran eo u s
schem e to tran sfo rm the exaggerated ex p ressio n s typical of rhetorical
academ ic a rt into p o rtray als of the m ore su b tle em o tio n s ch aracteristic
of m o d ern life, such as th e angry w ith d raw al of th e m an in The B anker
and the sullenness o f his co m p a n io n .85
H ence it is ap p ro p ria te th at, again as in Absinthe, th ese figures, al
though essentially m odels for a genre scene ra th e r th a n sitters for a
portrait, w ere frien d s of D egass, w ith w hose p erso n alities an d m oods
he w as well acq uain ted . And it is p articu larly a p p ro p riate th a t the m an
is D uranty, as is ev id en t w hen his c o n tracted featu res an d receding, d ark
blond h a ir are co m p ared w ith those in o th e r p o rtraits of him , including
the w ell-know n one by Degas h im self p ain te d a b o u t a d ecad e la ter [6].86
A lthough he is show n in a differen t m ood there, we know from o th er
sources th a t D uranty, a p io n ee r in th e N atu ralist m ovem ent w hose career
w as later eclipsed by the fam e of F lau b ert an d Zola, w as often as b itter
and w ith d raw n as he ap p e a rs in The Banker, his "c o u n ten an ce soft, sad,
and resigned. . . . H is w hole life w as w ritten, as it w ere, in the som etim es
painful grin of his m o u th .87 As for the w om an in The Banker, h er full
yet rath er fine featu res an d ch estn u t-c o lo red h a ir are those of E m m a
Dobigny, a favorite m odel o f D egass an d one for w hom he felt a special
sym pathy, to judg e from the u n u su ally tender, self-ironic letter he w rote
to h e r an d the p o rtra it he m ad e of h er at th is tim e [86], w here she
ap p ears in a sim ilarly pensive m o o d .88
120
87. Degas, The Conversation, 1884-1895. Oil on canvas.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville

T hat D egass use of th e racing p rin t as a com po sitio n al and expressive
device in The B a n ker is typical only of a certain p erio d in his dev elo p
m en t becom es evident w hen the p ictu re is co m p ared w ith a later version
called The Conversation [87], w hich he began in 1884 as a p o rtra it of
his friends, th e scu lp to r Paul B arth o lo m e an d his wife, a n d finished a
decade la te r.89 H ere the e m p h asis falls entirely on the tw o figures, show n
in intim ate proxim ity ra th e r th a n estran g ed ; an d th e p rin t beh in d them ,
no longer serving as a m ean s of linking them visually o r of identifying
their social m ilieu, is re d u ced to a b arren lan d scap e w hose horizon alone
is indicated by the c o n tra st betw een tw o bro ad areas of color.
It
w as
a ls o s h o rtly b e fo re
1870,
a n d a ls o in t h e f o r m
o f a p o p u la r p rin t
121
ap p aren tly em ployed m erely as a decorative elem ent, th a t Degas devised

one of his m ost ingenious b ack g ro u n d p ictu res. It is th e lith o g rap h
show ing a gathering of m u sician s th a t h an g s beh in d th e cellist Pilet in
D egas's p o rtra it of him seated in his office a t the O pera [88].90 In c o n trast
to the sporting prin t, this one co n tain s m an y figures, ap p are n tly p o rtraits
of individuals, an d is m o re vigorously re n d e re d in black and w hite;
indeed, the very' ab sen ce o f color, especially in relation to the vivid tones
found elsew here in th e com position, calls atte n tio n to it. So does the
open cello case in the foreground, w hose pow erfully silh o u etted form ,
p ro b ab ly influenced by the bold trea tm e n t of su c h elem en ts in Jap an e se
p rints, seem s to p o in t d irectly towrard it.91 M oreover, p a rt o f th e case
o verlaps the litho g rap h , its large, blocklike form co n trastin g sharply
w ith the dim inutive figures b eh in d it. T h rough th is device, an d th ro u g h
the equally striking c o n trast betw een these figures and th e im posing one
o f Pilet him self, we are led alm o st inevitably to exam ine th eir relation
to him .
W hen th e p ictu re b ehind Pilet is stu d ied m ore closely [89], it can no
longer be described sim ply as a lith o g rap h show ing a gro u p of celebrated
m usicians, of a ty p e p o p u la r in the R o m an tic period. Its un co n v en tio n al
features becom e obvious once it is c o m p ared w ith an exam ple of th a t
type, such as the Celebrated Pianists by N icolas M aurin [90], a p o p u lar
p o rtraitist of th e 1840s.92 In ste a d o f a few figures, form al an d equally
p rom inent, D egass p rin t show s a g ath erin g o f eighteen, som e of w hom
are p artly obscured ; and in stead o f facing to w ard th e center, th e m a jo r
ity seem to look at som eth in g ou tsid e th e field at th e left, th e pian ist
even tu rn in g aw ay from his in stru m en t to do so. W hat they look at, o f
course, is th e ir colleague Pilet, an d the h om age th a t they th u s ap p e a r
to pay him is all the m ore flattering in th at they can be identified as
som e of the m ost illustrious m usicians an d am ateurs of m usic of the
im m ediate past.
In th e right-han d group, we recognize C hopin seated at the pian o in
a typically lethargic pose, an d su rro u n d in g him several m em b ers of his
circle: behind and slightly to the left, H eine; beh in d an d slightly to the
right, Liszt; an d at the ex trem e right, D elacroix.93 B etw een the latter an d
Liszt stan d s Jacq u es H alevy; betw een Liszt a n d H eine, Berlioz; and
leaning on th e piano is B alzac.94 In the left-hand group, we recognize
88. Degas, The Cellist Pilet, ca. 1869. Oil on canvas.

Musce du Louvre, Paris
G autier seated in the center, an d a ro u n d him som e o f C h o p in s o th er

literary friends: directly above G autier, G eorge S an d (looking to w ard
C hopin and D elacroix); to h er left, the Polish poet Zalewski; an d to h er
right, Alfred de M usset.95 At the extrem e left are th e m usicologist H iller
an d th e a cto r Bocage; th e o th e r figures can n o t be identified as positively,
bu t the cellist stan d in g b eh in d the piano is p ro b ab ly F ran ch o m m e, Pilets
pred ecesso r at the O p era.96 As a w hole, then, th e scene is conceived as
one of the reu n io n s in C h opins stu d io in w hich he gave im p ro m p tu
perform ances, an d m ay well have been in sp ired by an acco u n t of th e
first such p erfo rm an c ea t w hich H eine, D elacroix, S and, H iller, a n d
123
Liszt w ere p resen tin the la tte rs w ell-know n m em oir of Chopin, p u b

lished in 1852.97 If Degas w as not already fam iliar w ith it, he could easily
have learned abo u t it from som e of the m usicians, including Pilet h im
self, w ith w hom he w as friendly a ro u n d 1870 and w hose p o rtraits he
p ainted in The Orchestra o f the Opera [50J.98
In the context of these m usical friendships, D egass co nception of the
lithograph as a playful ho m ag e to Pilet seem s entirely ap p ro p riate. It
recalls M anets use of a sim ilar device in his p o rtrait of Zola, exhibited
89.
Dtail of Figure 88
90.
Maurin, Celebrated
Pianists, 1842.
Lithograph.
Bibliothque Nation
ale, Paris
124
in 1868, w here the prin cip al figures in th e th ree w orks fram ed to g eth er
in the b ack g ro u n d a Jap an e se color w o o d cu t of a w restler, a litho g rap h
of V elazquezs The Drinkers, an d a p h o to g rap h o f M anets Olympiaarc
eith er m odified o r so ch o sen to begin w ith th a t they seem to look re
spectfully to w ard th e m u ch larg er figure of Z o la ." And it an ticip ates
P issarro s use of th e sam e m o tif in a p o rtra it o f C zanne p ain ted in 1874,
in w hich satirical p rin ts tak en from p o p u la r illu strated w eeklies are
placed on eith e r side of h im in su ch a way th a t th e figures of C ourbet
and T hiers show n in th em tu rn to w ard a n d a p p e a r to salu te the ru stic
yet im posing C zanne.100 The lith o g rap h in D egass p o rtra it is conccived
in the sam e spirit, b u t even m ore am bitiously, since it attem p ts to
cap tu re th e ap p ea ra n ce o f a fam iliar type of p rin t ra th e r th a n to re p ro
d uce an actu a l exam ple, and it co n tain s a great m an y figures, each of
w hich has b een a d ap te d from still a n o th e r source, a p o rtra it o f th e
p erson rep resen ted . T hat he w as successful, d espite th e sm all area in
w hich he h ad to w ork, testifies to his re m ark ab le ability to sum m arize
a physiognom y w ith a few strokes, a skill of w hich his caricatu res are
also im pressive ev id en c e,101 an d his p o rtra it of a n o th e r m usician, M m e
Camus at the Piano, a d ifferent kind of d em o n stratio n . F or in it, as he
later told W alter Sickert w ith glee, th e m usic on the p ian o is depicted
so accurately th a t a n ex p ert w as able to identify it as B eethovens .102
If the lith o g rap h behind Pilet reflects a playfulness a p p ro p ria te to the
spirit of frien d sh ip in w hich Degas conceived th is p o rtrait, it w as also
inspired by a re sp ec t th a t m akes even m o re m eaningful th e d eference
show n him by so m an y fam ous colleagues. For Pilet w as m ore than an
accom plish ed m usician; he w as also a courageous individual w ho had
risked his p osition in th e o rch e stra of th e O pera a few years earlier by
o penly challenging its a d m in istra tio n .103 In Ja n u ary 1866, after m an y
m o n th s of p ro testin g for h igher wages, a few of its m em b ers m et w ith
one of Louis N apoleon's m inisters, an d the resu lts w ere rep o rted by th eir
conductor, G eorges H ainl. The m ajo rity received this co m m u n icatio n
very w ell, he w ro te to the D irector o f th e O pera. H owever, one voice
p ro n o u n ced the follow ing w ords: It is m oney th at we n eed . This voice
w as th a t of M. Pilet, th e cellist. In cen sed by this challenge to his a u
thority, H ainl insisted th a t Pilet, w ho h ad played in the o rch estra for
over tw enty years, be dism issed im m ediately: I c an n o t, I will not, be
125
a victim of the bad will of a few. An exam ple is needed. It is needed

at once. 104 Actually, Pilet was not dism issed, since he figures prom i
nently in The Orchestra o f the Opera, painted three years later; b u t his
outspoken attitude was u n doubtedly discussed am ong m usicians and
know n to Degas, w ho at this m om ent w as m ounting his own attack on
the Salon adm inistration and w ould surely have adm ired it.105 T hat he
recognized in Pilet an ind ep en d en t spirit like his ow n is evident in his
portrait, both in the calm, d eterm ined expression on the m usicians face
and in the respectful attitu d es of his illustrious predecessors, whom
Degas has ingeniously placed behind him.
I n a no th er po rtrait of a friend, this one a fellow artist [91], probably
painted around 1878, Degas retu rn ed to the them e of the studio, which
he had treated a decade earlier in portraying Tissot; and here, too, the
dim ensions and legibility of the pictures su rrounding the figure give
them an im portan t role in the com position an d invite speculation as to
their m eaning in relation to h im .106 But their consistency of subject and
style, their unfram ed and ap parently unfinished condition, and the
prom inently displayed paintbox, palette, and b rushes all im ply th at they
are his ow n w orks, recently com pleted or currently in progress. In fact,
the m annequin propped up against the wall beside him m ust be the
m odel he has used for the sim ilarly costum ed figure in the larger of the
two pictures. Unlike the portrait of Tissot, then, this one seem s simply
to represent a colleague flanked by som e of his recent w orksoutd o o r
scenes of inform al diversion. Im pressionist in spirit, th at have little to
do w ith D egass own art of th e later 1870s. Yet this portrait, too, expresses
an attitude of disillusionm ent th at reveals as m uch of Degas as of his
sitter, and in effect does so th rough the choice an d relation to him of the
pictures and objects as m uch as through his own ap p e aran ce .107 This
becom es evident, how ever, only w hen the pictures and indeed the artist
him self have been identified.
It has been suggested several tim es th at he is Czanne, a p ain ter with
w hom Degas was of course acquainted, and who m ight well have used
a m annequin for lack o f live m odels.108 But the photographs and p o r
traits cited in support, and particularly the one by R enoir th a t is not
cited, show a quite different head, ro u n d er and m ore com pact, with
F *5
127
m ore open eyes, a fuller b eard , a n d a b ald e r pate; an d th e picnic scene

m entioned in relatio n to th e p ictu re at th e rig h t resem bles it only su p er
ficially.109 A m o re reliable clue w as p ro v id ed by Degas him self, w hen
he listed am ong his en tries in th e catalogue o f th e Im p ressio n ist exhibi
tion of 1879 a "P o rtra it o f a P ain ter in His S tu d io in the collcction of
a "M r. H. M.-L. 110 A lthough no co n tem p o rary review o r m em o ir m e n
tions it, very likely b ecau se Degas d ecided n o t to exhibit it afte r all, it
w as u n d o u b ted ly the one u n d e r discussion. For th e only o th ers in his
oeuvre th a t could be so d escrib ed are those of Tissot an d o f a m an in
a w hite blouse, of w hich the fo rm er w as too early in d ate a n d th e latter
too unfinished in a p p e a ra n c e to be exhibited t h e n . " 1 Nowr in 1879, before
th e p o rtra it could have ch an g ed h an d s, Mr. H. M.-L. could only be
the artist w ho is its su b ject, a n d he in tu rn could only b e H enri Michel-
91 (opposite).
Degas, Henri
Michel-Levy, ca.
1878. Oil on
canvas.
Fundaâo Calouste
Gulbenkian, Lisbon
92.
Michel-Levy, The
Regattas, ca. 1878.
Oil on canvas.
Present whereabouts
unknown
128
Levy (1844-1914), th e one recorded artist with these initials. A som ew hat
conservative, m inor Im pressionist, he was know n to th e m ajo r figures
in the m ovem ent, p articularly Manet an d Monet, w ith w hom he occa
sionally painted, an d a w ork he exhibited at the Salon of 1877 w as singled
out for praise by D uranty.112 Like Degas at an earlier date, he had been
a pupil of Flix Barras, th rough whom they may have m et; in any event,
they w ere acquainted, for his addresses ap p ear three tim es in D egass
notebooks in the early 1870s.113 In fact, Michel-Lvy him self later re
p orted that they h ad been studio com panions and had m ade portraits
of each o th er, that he had sold Degass p o rtrait of him for a high price,
and that the latter, learning of this, had rem ark ed mercilessly: You have
done a despicable thing; you knew very well th a t I couldnt sell your
p o rtrait. 114
If the m ain outlines of Michel-Lvys career are known, his w orks have
virtually disappeared. H ence it is hardly surprising th a t the picture at
the right in D egass p o rtrait cannot be identified, although one th a t
Michel-Lvy exhibited at the Salon of 1878 as Promenade in a Park
suggests a sim ilar su b je c t.115 It is only through the chance discovery of
an old photograph th at the one at the left can be identified as The
Regattas [92], w hich he show ed at the Salon of 1879, the very year when
Degas planned to show this p o rtra it.116 Obviously w orking from m em ory,
Degas has altered the seated w om an's position and rendered the foliage
around her in a m ore boldly simplified style, but it is clearly the right
side of The Regattas th at he has reproduced. The oth er picture, although
painted even m ore sum m arily, rep resen ts a sim ilar situationtw o m en
and a w om an seated or reclining outdoors, and two w om en w ith parasols
strolling tow ard them . In choosing these elegant, idyllic scenes, Degas
in effect characterizes his frien d s art as an Im pressionist equivalent of
the Rococo fte galante, although it was also an art of landscapes and
urban genre scenes, to ju d g e from th e titles in exhibition and sale
catalogues.11' Thus Degas alludes not only to the general affinities be
tw een Im pressionism and the Rococo, but to the influence exerted on
Michel-Lvy by his ow n outstan d in g collection of eighteenth-century art,
especially th at of W atteau, the creator of the fte galante. Indeed, the
posthum ou s sale of his collection contained twelve paintings and thirty-
129
three draw ings by W atteau, as well as im p o rta n t w orks by B oucher,

Fragonard, a n d others, som e of w h ich m ight well be c o m p ared w ith the
tw o by M ichel-Levy h im self th a t Degas h as re p ro d u c e d .118
Ironically, how ever, he ap p e a rs in this p o rtra it as a w ith d raw n an d
disillusioned m an, alto g eth er rem o te from the scenes of pleasu re and
conviviality su rro u n d in g him , an d m ad e to seem still m o re isolated by
their presence. M oreover, th e m o st consp icu o u s figure in each pictu re
ap p ears to tu rn its back on him , as docs th e m an n eq u in placed on the
floor beside him . In effect an o th e r w ork of art, the la tte r closes a series
of triangles th a t su rro u n d the a rtist on all sides; a n d this h erm etic m ood
is en h an ced by the shallow ness o f the sp ace in w hich he stan d s, his back
literally ag ain st th e wall, his exits b locked visually by his ow n creations
o r in stru m en ts of c re a tio n .119 Sym bolically, the m a n n eq u in plays the
p a rt of his com pan io n , one th at is ind eed lifelike in scale, costum e, and
coloring, yet is show n in a singularly aw kw ard, lifeless p o stu re, p ro p p e d
against the wall. (In Jacq u es V illons W om an a n d M annequin, a color
a q u a tin t of 1899, th e roles of the sexes are reversed an d th e erotic
im plications m uch stro n g e r.120) The poignancy of th e m an n e q u in is
echoed in the seated w o m an of The Regattas, w ho ap p e a rs still m ore
inanim ate and rem o te a n im itatio n of an im itatio n of reality. H ow
effectively su ch d etails estab lish a m ood of pessim ism an d alienation
becom es clearer w hen D egass im age of the artist in his stu d io is com
p ared w ith a typically Im p ressio n ist one, su ch as th e p o rtra it by A rm and
G uillaum in o f his p atro n Dr. M artinez, w hich conveys an air o f confi
d ence and ease not only in th e relaxed p osition of th e figure, b u t in the
sm all, inform al, casually arra n g e d p ictu res aro u n d h im .121
T hat D egass su b ject, a m an of w hom one acq u a in tan c e w rote, "I
know of no one m ore reticent, m ore d istru stfu l of him self, th a n this fine,
sincere artist. . . . H e has dream ed , observed, painted, traveled, lived
for him self, far from the futile a n d foolish tu m u lt, 122 is effectively
sum m ed u p in su ch a p o rtra it can n o t be do u b ted . B ut th at th ere is also
in it m uch of D egass co n cep tio n of the a rtist as an unsocial being w ho
inhabits a w orld of his im agination, a n d particu larly o f his sense of
h im self as a fru strated , em b itte re d m a n w hose d eep est needs rem ained
unfulfilled, is equally evident. We have only to read his letters, such as
130
the one he w rote to a colleague in 1884, If you w ere a b ach elo r and
fifty years o l d ,. . . you w ould ex perience those m o m en ts w hen one sh u ts
oneself like a door, an d not only on o n es friends; one su p p resses every
thing aro u n d one, and o n ce all alone, one destroys oneself, in short, one
kills oneself, ou t o f d isg u st, 123 to realize how pro fo u n d ly tru e an im age
of Degas him self th is p ain tin g is.
If, in t h e p o rtra its d iscu ssed th u s far, the p ictu res show n in th e b a c k
ground a p p e a r eith er to have existed in reality o r to have been invented
w ith a m etap h o rical p u rp o se in m ind, th e one seen beh in d H enri R o u art
in D egass p o rtra it of him w ith his d a u g h te r [93], o f a b o u t 1877, can n o t
be u n d ersto o d in eith er se n se .124 It h as been called one o f his la n d
scap es, b u t its bold n ess of conception an d freedom of execution are
w ithout parallel in his art. A tale n te d am a te u r w ho w as b etter know n
as an in d u strial engineer a n d as a collector of m o d ern art, R o u art had
stu d ied w ith C orot, from w h o m he acq u ired a ta ste for su ch p ictu resq u e
sites as Venice, Avignon, and M arseilles, an d w orked in a ra th e r cautious
style, of w hich Valry la te r observed: He fashioned for h im self a tech
niq u e of the g reatest discipline, o f a rem ark ab le precision an d accu-
93.
Degas, Henri
Rouart and His
Daughter
Hlne, ca.
1877. Oil on
canvas.
Collection of Dr.
and Mrs. Rudolf
Heinemann, New
York
94.
Degas, Diego Martelli,
1879. Oil on canvas.
National Galleries of Scot
land, Edinburgh
racy. 125 Therefore, the landscape in Degass p o rtrait should probably

be understood as an acknow ledgm ent of R o u arts interest in landscape
painting, one that his m ore illustrious friend encouraged by inviting him
to exhibit with the Im pressionists, rath er than as a p articu lar work by
him. Com pared with the easily identified, sym bolically significant w orks
of art that often ap p ear in p o rtraits of artists in the R om antic period,
such as that of M ichelangelo in his studio by Delacroix and those of
T intoretto and R aphael by Ingres, this one clearly has no such p u r
po se,126 even if Degas seem s to have h ad In g ress pictures of the Fornarina seated on R aphaels lap in m ind w hen he chose to portray Hlne
R ouart seated on h er fath ers.
Also w ithout special significance is the large picture in the background
of Degass portrait of Diego M artelli [94], a Florentine a rt critic w ho
visited Paris in 1878-1879, at which time Degas painted him in his a p a rt
m ent, and w ho on his retu rn to Italy was the first to cham pion Im p res
132
sionism .127 The background painting should probably be seen as an

allusion to his professional activities rath er than as a w ork he actually
owned. For not only is there no such work in the inventory of his
collection, w hich he willed in tact to the Galleria d Arte M oderna in
Florence,128 but its appearance varies from one to an o th er of the p re p a r
atory studies for the portrait, and takes still an o th er form , th at of a
loosely painted landscape, in a second version of it.129 And unlike the
latter, the picture in o u r version is im possible to identify even generically; it has been described as a "fram ed fan, b u t the curvature of a
fan w ould be dow nw ard ra th e r than u pw ard and its size m uch sm aller.
W hat we see, then, is n o t a fragm ent of a real o r putative picture, b u t
an abstract design w hose pale red, yellow, and blue tones echo those
found elsew here in the com position, ju st as its curved contour repeats
that of the sofa below it, effectively reinforcing the ap p a re n t rotundity
of M artellis com pact figure.
A n um ber of conspicuous yet unidentifiable pictures also ap p ear in the
background of Degass pastel Mary Cassatt at the Louvre [95], a work
contem porary with the p o rtrait of Martelli, and they also serve to c h ar
acterize the setting rath er th an to com m ent on the personality or taste
of the persons rep resen ted .130 For if this apparently sim ple scene of
visitors in the G rande G alerie is in fact a rath er sophisticated portrait
of Degass friend and pupil Mary Cassatt and her sister L ydia,131 its
effectiveness in evoking their personalities depends neither on the pic
tures show n behind them n o r on their facial expressions, which are
likewise hidden or am biguous, b u t rath er on the expressiveness of their
postures and the silhouettes th at these produce against the strikingly
bare surfaces of the parq u et floor and m arble dado of the gallery.
Although probably inspired by the p iq u an t flattening of shapes in Ja p a
nese prints, the shrew dly co ntrasted silhouettes of the two w om en are
fundam entally E uropean in their revelation of p ersonality.132 T hat of the
standing w om an, which Degas studied repeatedly in a notebook of
around 1879, is particularly effective in this respect, for her slender,
erect figure, neatly tailored, and her crisply furled um brella all convey
to us som ething of Mary C assatts tense, energetic ch aracter. 133 This
essentially E uropean interest in realism is also evident in the care he
133
95. Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, 1879-1880. Pastel.

96. Degas, Study for Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, 1879-1880. Pencil.
Formerly collection of Marcel Guerin, Paris
took to re p ro d u ce accu rately th e a p p e aran c e of the G ran d e G alerie: on
an o th er page of th e sam e n o tebook [96], h e drew a fain t o utline of M ary
C assatt's head an d sh o u ld ers a n d above it p a rt o f th e elab o rately carved
fram e on one of th e p ictu res th a t used to h an g there, rep ro d u cin g a
co rn er o f it so faithfully th a t it can be identified as R u b en s's com position
The Birth o f Louis X III. 134
97.
Degas, At the Louvre: Mary
Cassatt in the Etruscan Gal
lery, 1879-1880. Etching,
aquatint, and crayon lec
trique.
New York, Rogers Fund, 19.29.2
The figures of Mary and Lydia C assatt, based directly on those in the
pastel, but now show n contem plating the E truscan sarcophagus in the
L ouvres Salle du Tom beau Lydien rath er th an the pictures in its G rande
Galerie, app ear once again in an etching w ith aq u atin t th at Degas m ade
around 1880 [97],135 His choice of the fine sarcophagus from Cervetri
[98] reveals an appreciation of E truscan art, and of archaic art generally,
w hich was unusual at th at time. The first m od em study of E truscan
civilization h ad ap p eared only three years earlier, and as late as 1892
this sarcophagus w as described in a pop u lar guidebook as "a strange
work, at once refined and b arb aro u s. 136 In addition to the appeal of
its unfam iliar style, the difficulty in representing its com plicated forms
seen through a glass case th a t both reflects light and fram es the lum i
nous w indow behind itundoubtedly posed a technical problem for
Degas, one which he m ust have been all the m ore eager to solve in that
135
this p rin t w as to m ark his p u blic d e b u t in th e field of g rap h ic art. It

w as to be his co n trib u tio n to L e Jour et la Nuit, a periodical devoted
to original prints, w hich he w as th en organizing w ith B racquem ond,
Pissarro, and M ary C assatt herself. The te ch n iq u e of aq u atin t, w hich he
has em ployed here so freely and inventively, w as to be an im p o rtan t
elem ent in all their p rin ts.137
T hat he achieved far m ore th an a tech n ical to u r de force, how ever,
becom es evident w hen his p rin t is co m p ared w ith c o n tem p o rary p ictu res
o f visitors in the L ouvres sc u lp tu re galleries, su ch as th e ones of his
form er friend Tissot. If the latter's view of th e R o to n d e de M ars [99],
pro b ab ly p ain ted aro u n d 1884, is m ore successful as an illusionso m uch
so, th a t all the antiquities show n in it an d even the Pavilion de Sully
seen th ro u g h th e w indow can be identifiedit is also m ore pedantic, an d
lacks the flair an d especially th e w it th a t ch aracterize D egass im ag e.138
This is evident not only in his h an d lin g o f th e graphic m edia, b u t in
a carefully contrived a n d am u sin g detail: th e h u sb a n d a n d wife show n
reclining on the E tru scan sarco p h ag u s a p p e a r to tu rn tow ard, an d the
98. Sarcophagus from Cervetri, Etruscan, VI century B .C . Polychromed
terracotta.
136
h u sb an d to beckon tow ard, Lydia C assatt, w ho in tu rn seem s to look

u p from her guidebook in o rd er to m eet th eir glances, w hile h e r sister
M ary faces them directly. W hen seen from this angle, the ligures on the
sarco p h ag u s d o indeed a p p e a r this way, an d in a carefully executed
draw ing [160J m ad e in p rep ara tio n for the p rin t D egas in d icates as
m u c h ,139 b u t he u n d o u b ted ly chose th a t angle to begin w ith in o rd er
to p ro d u ce su ch a co n fro n tatio n betw een th e pairs o f living an d sculpted
figures. In effect, then, his im age is a witty, m o d ern eq u iv alen t o f the
older one, especially p o p u lar in late m edieval a n d R en aissan ce art, of
The T hree Living M eeting th e T hree Dead. Yet it rem ain s a scene of
co n tem p o rary life an d a ra th e r sh rew d p o rtra it of tw o of his friends.
100.
Degas, Hlne
Rouart, 1886. Oil on
canvas.
Private collection, Lon
don
137
latest in date an d also th e m o st varied in su b ject m a tte r of the

po rtraits in w hich w orks of art a p p e a r is th e one th a t Degas p ain ted
of H lne R ouart in 1886 [100], alm o st a d ecade after he h ad show n
h er as a girl on h e r fa th e rs la p .140 A lthough a poised a n d in d ep en d en t
young w om an now an d h e r u n u su al p osition relative to the chair,
particularly in the p re p a ra to ry studies, is one in d icatio n o f th isshe is
still depicted in h e r fath er's library, su rro u n d e d by books an d objects
in w hich his p resen ce is fe lt.141 As we have seen, it w as largely as a
collector ra th e r th a n as an a rtist th at H enri R o u art w as best know n,
and Degas, w ho w as one o f his closest friends, has acknow ledged this
by ch aracterizing the p ictu res an d o b jects b eh in d h e r as vividly as
The
101 .
Detail of wall hang

ing, Chinese, Ching
Dynasty. Woven silk.
Formerly collection of
Edmond Fournier,
Paris
H lne herself. If it is a p o rtra it of h e r as the d a u g h te r o f a fam ous

collector, how ever, it is also an im age of th e cu ltivated m ilieu w hich
his intelligence an d taste en ab le d him to create, an d in w hich she w as
raised to ap p recia te m an y d ifferent kinds of art. H ow m uch at ease she
seem s in it becom es a p p a re n t w hen this p o rtra it is c o m p ared w ith the
one of T hrse M orbilli stan d in g ra th e r stiffly in h er fa th e rs richly
furnished draw ing ro o m [77], w ith an equally h aug h ty p o rtra it by Perro n n eau b eh in d h e r.142
As if to em phasize th e essentially artistic an d intellectu al ch a ra c ter
of H lne R o u a rt's hom e, Degas h a s p laced a tab le piled w ith books and
p ap ers in the foreground, an d h as su rro u n d e d h er w ith a rem ark ab ly
diverse group of o b jects. In the glass case are th ree E gyptian w ood
statues, of w hich th e n e a re st one alone is ren d ered clearly enough to
be identified; it is an u sh ab ti, o r fu n erary figurine, of th e M iddle K ing
dom , an d w as fo r m an y years in th e collection o f L ouis R ouart, w ho
138
inherited it from his fa th e r.143 As in th e etching of M ary an d Lydia

C assatt in th e Louvre, exam ining a n E tru sc a n sarco p h ag u s w hose figures
seem in tu rn to co n tem p late th em [97], Degas h as d raw n a su b tle co m
pariso n betw een th e u sh ab ti an d the equally solem n an d dignified young
w om an, w hose h ead m o reo v er ap p ears at the sam e level. On the wall
beh in d h er is p art of a large C hinese silk hanging, its e m b ro id ered
o rn am en t (m ore legible w hen seen in color) consisting of d rag o n s and
trad itio n al dogs of F o on a crim son gro u n d , of a type w oven in the
C hing D ynasty [101].144 Yet these w orks of an cien t a n d O riental art,
although p a rt of H enri R o u a rts collection, w ere h ard ly typical of it; its
g reatest strength, in fact, w as in E u ro p ean art, especially of the n in e
teen th -cen tu ry F rench school, som e of w hose m asters he h ad know n
personally. H ence th e p resen ce o f these w orks p ro b ab ly reflects D egass
ow n interests as m uch as his frie n d s. As a stu d en t, he h ad copied
extensively after E g yptian art; and acco rd in g to his niece, "a fte r read in g
[G autier's] R o m a n ce o f the M um m y, [he] b ecam e interested in every
thing th at to u ch ed on E gyptian life a t the tim e of th e P h a ra o h s. 145 Early
in his career, he h ad also been deeply in terested in F ar E astern art, as
w e have seen in The Collector o f Prints a n d the p o rtra it o f Tissot, w here
O riental co stu m es a n d w oven fabrics are actually rep resen ted [65, 68],
M ore ap p ro p ria te as ex p ressio n s o f R o u a rts ta ste are th e p ainting and
draw ing beh in d H lne at th e right side of the com position [102], Al
though ren d ered in p a le r to n es a n d a b ro a d e r style th a n the figure and
ch air ad ja c e n t to them , b o th can be identified. The p ain ting is C o ro ts
Naples a n d the Castello d e llOvo [103], one of an o u tstan d in g gro u p of
early lan d scap es by him w hich p articu larly im pressed those w ho visited
R o u a rts co llectio n .146 M any years later, a visitor rem em b ered b o th the
vivid coloring of this "m agnificent seascap e an d the m an y h o u rs he
had spent discussing th e m a s te rs w ork w ith his host, w ho h ad know n
C orot a n d received som e lessons from h im .147 The sam e w as tru e of
M illet; an d ap p ro p riately , he is re p resen ted in D egass p o rtra it by the
study of a p e a sa n t w om an [104] th a t han g s below the C orot; it is one
o f an even larger series of p astels an d sketches by him th a t w ere am ong
R o u a rts m o st valued p o ssessio n s.148 A colleague later d escrib ed how,
even as an old, infirm m an, ill and h ard ly able to raise him self from
his arm ch air, . . . [he] w ished to d iscuss M illet again w ith me, and
139
102.
D etail o f F ig u re 100
103.
C o ro t, N aples a n d th e Castello
d e llOvo, 1828. Oil o n can v as.
Formerly collection of Henri Rouart,
Paris
104.
M illet, A P easant W om an S ea te d
against a H aystack, 1851-1852. B lack
cray o n .
140
leaning on m y arm , d rag g ed him self to a d ark com er, w here he lit a
candle to show m e a very sm all d raw in g . 149 T hus the early C orot la n d
scape and th e M illet draw ing, although n o t the m o st valuable w orks in
a collection th a t inclu d ed p ictu res by El G reco, C hardin, Goya, a n d Degas
him self, w ere evidently am o n g th e m o st significant in R o u a rts ow n
ju d g m en t, an d w ere p ro b ab ly in tro d u c e d h ere as such.
Like the C hinese silk han g in g an d the E g yptian scu lp tu res, how ever,
they m u st also have h ad a special a ttrac tio n for Degas. The Corot, a
view of th e G ulf of N aples, recalled a scene he h ad o ften adm ired as
a young m an , w hile visiting relatives in th a t city, and h ad seen again
in 1886, th e very y ear in w hich he p ain ted this p o rtra it.150 W hat he
resp o n d ed to above all w as its vivid co n trasts of color an d light, o b serv
ing in a no teb o o k of 1860 th a t th e C astello d ellOvo stan d s ou t against
the roseate slopes of Vesuvius, itself greenish a n d black as in w in ter. 151
Two of his earliest lan d scap es are in fact sm all, b ro ad ly executed views
of the G ulf o f N aples a n d th e Castello, u n d o u b ted ly p ain ted u n d er
C orots in flu en ce.152 H ence the pictu re in R o u arts collection w ould also
have in terested Degas as a brillian t exam ple of th a t m a s te rs early style,
w hich he, too, p referred to th e later, m o re p o p u la r one. H is ow n collec
tion co n tain ed seven Corots by the tim e o f his d eath, alm ost all of w hich
w ere sm all lan d scap es o f th e early Italian p eriod; an d appropriately,
w hen he w as considering the p u rc h ase of tw o of them in 1898, he asked
R ouart to confirm th eir a u th e n ticity .153 Unlike the C orot, th e M illet in
the p o rtrait o f H lne R o u a rt w ould have attra c te d Degas n o t for its
su b ject m atter, the ru stic in art having little ap p eal for him , b u t for its
qualities as a fine draw ing. The only w orks by M illet in his collection
w ere in fact sketches an d studies, to w hich he could resp o n d in purely
grap h ic te rm s.154 T h at he did so, and w ith as m u ch em o tio n as he felt
for C orots w ork, is clear enough from W alter S ick erts m em oir: His
w hole-hearted ad o ratio n seem ed, a m o n g th e m oderns, to be given to
Millet, to Ingres, an d to th e e arlier C orot. 155
I f , in t h e p o rtra it o f H lne R ouart, as in th e earlier ones of Tissot and
Michel-Lvy, the w orks o f art a ro u n d th em seem as im p o rta n t as the
su b jects them selves in defining th eir interests o r p ersonalities, they are
nevertheless su b o rd in a te d to th e latter com positionally. Only on tw o
141
occasions, d u rin g a so jo u rn in his friend Paul Valpintjon's ch ate au at

M enil-H ubert in th e su m m e r of 1892, did Degas elim inate th e figure
and atte m p t instead to p ain t a p o rtra it o f his enviro n m en t. In The
Interior [60], he re p resen ted his ow n room at the chateau, playing in
geniously w ith the m otifs o f th e picture, th e m irror, an d th e doorw ay,
as we have seen, b u t also ca p tu rin g the provincial ch arm of th is sim ply
fu rn ish ed yet cheerfu l and lu m inous p la c e .156 And in The Billiard R oom
[105], he depicted one o f the m o re elaborately fu rn ish ed areas used for
e n te rtain m en t a n d th e display of th e V alpinôns extensive collection of
p ain tin g s.157 Paul w as in fact th e son of a fam ous collector an d friend
o f Ingres, an d it w as thro u g h this fam ily th a t Degas w as ab le as a young
m an to m eet th a t m a ste ran occasion he n ev er fo rg o t.158 H ence the
pro m in en ce he has given to th e p ictu res, w hich fill bo th w alls of the
billiard room , the sp ace above th e doorw ay, an d a w all of th e room
visible beyond it, creatin g an effect like th at in th e p o rtra it o f Mary
C assatt in the G ran d e Galerie, bu t w ith a g reater em p h asis on the p ic
tures them selves. In doing so, he w as once again fulfilling an am bition
of N atu ralist aesth etics th a t D uranty h ad form ulated in The N ew Paint
ing: "T he language of th e em pty a p a rtm e n t will have to be clear enough
fo r one to be able to d e d u ce from it th e n a tu re an d h ab its of the p erson
w ho in h ab its it. 159
Yet only the larg est of th e w orks o f a rt show n, the one in the cen ter
o f each w all of th e billiard room , is d ep icted in sufficient detail to be
identified. At th e right is an eig h teen th -cen tu ry tap estry represen tin g
E sth er S w ooning before A hasuerus, w hich w as still a t M enil-H ubert
b efore the S econd W orld W ar, b u t w as rem oved o r d estroyed d u rin g it.160
At th e left is a pain tin g of a typically ru stic scene by th e N eapolitan
a rtist G iuseppe Palizzi, the A nim a ls at a Watering Place of ab o u t 1865
[106],161 C learly u n in terested in its ra th e r dryly ren d ered genre details,
Degas h as su p p ressed the fo reg ro u n d entirely in his copy an d given the
earth, especially th e horizon, a rh y th m ic cu rv atu re lacking in the m ore
static original. H ow ever, these ch an g es d o n o t necessarily im ply a criti
cism, since th ere is a sim ilar ten d en cy to w ard sim plifying an d a b
stracting a b ro ad p a ttern o f tones in his late copies afte r artists he surely
did adm ire, such as D elacroix an d M antegna [43, 214].162 In fact, he m ay
have m et Palizzi, th e lead e r of th e so-called School of P au silip p u s, d u rin g
142
Degas: The A rtists M in d
105. Degas, The Billiard Room, 1892. Oil on canvas.

Formerly collection of Charles Comiot, Paris
one of his m an y visits to N aples, an d m ay have been in terested in th e

p ictu re fo r th a t m ore sen tim en tal reason.
D espite the ab sen ce of h u m a n beings, b o th of th e M enil-H ubert in te
riors are conceived so entirely in term s of h u m a n associations th at they
can be co n sid ered "p o rtra its o f the ro o m s in question. In th eir co n cern
w ith perso n ality a n d m ood, they resem b le Im p ressio n ist interiors far
less th an those o f th e R o m an tic period, w here the tem p o rarily u n in
h a b ited sp ace p ro jects a p ow erful im age o f its o c c u p a n t th ro u g h th e
ch a ra c te r of its furn ish in g s a n d d eco ratio n and th e expressive quality
of its color an d lig h t.163 A p articu larly fine exam ple o f this type, Dela
croix's p a in te d sk etch of The Comte de M o rn a ys A partm ent [107], w as
acq u ired by Degas tw o years a fte r he stay ed a t M enil-H ubert; an d
143
appropriately, he co n sid ered it one o f th e th ree m ost im p o rta n t p ictures

in his collection.164
e d i n retrosp ect, th e p ictu res w ithin D egass p ictu res are n o t only
surprisingly n u m ero u s, b u t so diverse in su b ject an d style as to ap p e a r
alm ost unintelligible as a group. N evertheless, w hen they are arran g ed
chronologically, as they have been here, th ey reveal p a tte rn s of o c cu r
rence, function, an d taste th a t are m eaningful in term s of D egas's artistic
developm ent. It is surely no coincidence, for exam ple, th a t the first and
last w orks in w hich p ictu res a p p e a r p rom inently, The Bellelli Family of
a b o u t 1860 an d The Billiard R o o m of 1892, are also the first a n d last
in w hich he attem p ts to ch aracterize a ro o m in relation to the p e rso n
alities an d in terests of th e in dividuals w ho in h ab it it. In the only later
w orks in w hich p ictu res a p p e a rThe Toilette, ca. 1897, and W oman
Drying H er Hair, ca. 1906both the figures an d the p ictures b eh in d th em
V ie w
106. Palizzi, Animals at a Watering Place, ca. 1865. Oil on canvas.

Formerly collection of Paul Valpingon, Menil-Hubert
144
Degas: The Artist's M ind
arc a n o n y m o u s.165 It w as only in com posing p h o to g rap h s th a t Degas

co ntinued to use th e m o tif im aginatively, as in the fascinating p o rtrait
of him self w ith the scu lp to r B arth o lo m .166 Nor is it an accident that,
betw een th e term inal d a te s ju s t m entioned, all the exam ples we have
co nsidered are eith er p o rtra its or, in th e case of The B a nker a n d Mary
Cassatt at the Louvre, p ortrait-like genre scenes, w hose b ack g ro u n d
p ictures o r ob jects serve to identify the ch aracteristic am b ien ce of the
p erson show n o r to co m m en t on som e asp ect of his pro fessio n al life.
U nlike his colleagues C zanne and G auguin, w hose still lifes som etim es
include w orks of figurative a rt strikingly ju x tap o sed to the objects
aro u n d them , Degas w as too deeply atta c h e d to the re p resen tatio n o f
h u m an beings ever to ex p erim en t w ith this fo rm .167
T hus the p eriod of D egass greatest in terest in the m o tif of th e pictu re
coincides roughly w ith th a t of his g reatest in terest in p o rtraitu re. W ithin
that, how ever, th ere is a sm aller interval, from 1866 to 1880, o r rath er,
tw o still sm aller intervals, fro m 1866 to 1871 a n d from 1877 to 1880, w hich
com prise m ost of th e exam ples we have discussed. It is especially in
th e first of these th at Degas, en co u rag ed by D uranty, M anet, and o th ers
in th e N atu ralist m o vem ent, w ho a re convinced th a t in m o d ern p o rtra i
tu re "w e will no longer se p arate th e p erso n from the a p a rtm e n t set
ting, 168 explores th e expressive possibilities of th e b ackground, and
p articu larly o f th e p ic tu re in the b ackground, in such com plex an d su b tle
w orks as The Collector o f Prints, The Banker, an d th e p o rtraits of Tissot
a n d Pilet. M oreover, it is in ju s t these years th a t Degas ten d s to include
sm all p rin ts of an essentially d o cu m en tary value in su ch realistically
depicted interiors as those o f the Portraits in an Office, The Cotton
M erchants, a n d The P edicure.169 In the m ost in terestin g of these interiors,
the so-called Le Viol [134], his p ractice actually coincides w ith th a t of
th e N atu ralist w riters, since it is directly in sp ired by a passage in Z olas
Thrse R aquin, in w hich a p o rtra it han g in g in the b ed ro o m w here the
action takes place su d d en ly assu m es a d ram atic im p o rtan ce, a n d it is
possibly also based on a scene in th a t a u th o r's M adeleine Frat, in w hich
a series of engravings d eco ratin g th e hotel ro o m w here the episode
occurs are given a striking sym bolic significance.170
In m ost cases, Degas copies th e b ack g ro u n d p ictu re o r o b ject from
an actual one, often in a b roader, m ore su m m ary style, b u t w ith sufficient
145
fidelity fo r his m odel to be identified. H ere he relies on his p h en o m en al

visual m em ory an d o n tech n iq u es he h as acq u ired in years o f p ractice
as a co p y ist.171 In the relatively few cases w here he obviously invents
the w ork of art, it is for a specific reason: to ch aracterize a style o r type
of art, in a p o rtra it of an a rtist (Tissot, R ouart); to in tro d u ce a h u m o ro u s
m arginal com m ent, in a p o rtra it of a friend (Pilet); or to rein fo rce a
com positional elem ent, in a p o rtra it w hose su b ject alone is im p o rtan t
(M artelli). W hether copied o r invented, how ever, th e p ictu re o r o b ject
in th e b a ck g ro u n d alw ays seem s a p p ro p ria te for the su b ject of th e p o r
trait, a n d som etim es actually belongs to him (the Bellellis, the p rin t
collector) o r to his fam ily (T hrse M orbilli, H lne R o u a rt).172 N ever
theless, in m ost of these exam ples a n d in a few o th ers (the b anker, M ary
C assatt), th e p a rtic u la r w ork o f a rt seem s also to be chosen becau se of
D egass ow n in tere st in it, his taste agreeing w ith o r even d o m in atin g
th a t of his subject, alth o u g h this m ay a p p e a r so p artly b ecau se m u ch
m ore is know n ab o u t his artistic in terests th a n ab o u t those of his su b
jects.
W hatever th e reaso n s for th e ir choice, th e m ere presence in D egass
p aintings an d p rin ts o f w orks as varied as E gyptian and E tru sc a n scu lp
tures, C hinese an d Jap an e se fabrics, R en aissance a n d R ococo p o rtraits,
R om antic an d Im p ressio n ist lan d scap es, N eoclassical an d V ictorian
p rin ts, is evidence o f a responsiveness to a rt of alm o st every type an d
style th a t is in itself ch aracteristic o f h im .173 W ithin this ex trao rd in ary
diversity, certain p referen ces can be observed; n o tab ly for nin eteen th cen tury an d for F ar E astern art. To the fo rm er g roup belong not only
the lan d scap es an d genre scenes by (or ap p are n tly by) his colleagues
M ichel-Lvy, Tissot, a n d R ouart, w hich are p e rh ap s inevitable in p o r
traits show ing them in th eir studios, b u t also th o se by Corot, Millet, and
Palizzi, w hich re p re se n t less ex ternally conditioned choices, an d also the
flower p rin ts by R edout, the steep lech ase p rin t afte r H erring, an d the
p rin t depicting m u sician s d esigned by Degas him self. To th e g ro u p of
F ar E astern w orks b elong th e T an g figurine an d Ja p a n e se p o cketbook
covers in The Collector o f Prints, the C hing silk h an g in g in the p o rtrait
of H lne R ouart, an d th e im itatio n of an E ishi color w o o d cu t in th at
of Tissot. A nd as we h ave seen, th e influence of O riental a rt is also
p resen t in the design of th e b ulletin b o ard in The Collector o f Prints,
146
th e com position of th e p o rtra it of Pilet, a n d th e figurai type used in th at

of M ary C assatt.174
In the period betw een 1860 a n d 1890, w hen Degas p ain ted alm o st all
the p ictu res w ithin his pictures, m an y o th er artists also took u p this
them e; in fact, th e years aro u n d 1885 in France have in this resp ect been
co m p ared in im p o rta n c e w ith th e years aro u n d 1660 in H o llan d an d
S p a in .175 The D elacroix sketches in R en o irs p o rtra its of M. an d M m e
C hocquet, th e Jap a n e se p rin ts in Van G oghs p o rtra its of Pre Tanguy,
an d th e C zanne still life in G au g u in s p o rtra it of M arie D errien all are
fam iliar exam ples o f this m o tif.176 So, too, on a larg er scale, are the
D elacroix self-portrait in F an tin -L ato u rs hom age to him , th e Im p re s
sionist lan d scap es a n d figures in B azilles p ictu re of his studio, an d the
frag m en t of th e Grande Jatte in S e u ra ts pain tin g The M odels. 177 Less
fam iliar, b u t p articu larly relevant here, are the w orks by Degas him self
th a t a p p e a r in o th e r a rtists pictu res: the fan d eco rated w ith S panish
dan cers in M orisots Two Sisters on a Sofa, th e p astel of a d a n ce r a d ju s t
ing h er slip p er in G au g u in s Still IJfe w ith Peonies, an d the paintings
of d an cers an d jockeys in R en o irs Yvonne and Christine Lerolle at the
Piano. 178 As we h ave seen, how ever, the device of the pictu re has a
u nique significance for Degas, w ho em ploys it m o re often an d on the
w hole m o re ingeniously th an his colleagues, a n d n o t only in su b jects
w hose imager}-- seem s to req u ire it. Q uite a p a rt from its d o cu m en tary
role in p o rtra its of artists, critics, a n d collectors, th e pictu re is for him
a m otif of purely visual fascination: like th e m irror, the doorw ay, and
the w indow , it is a m ean s o f playing on th e artificial a n d the n atu ral
in th e a rt o f m ak in g p ic tu re s.179
I V The Artist
and the Writer
^^^0
o th er a rtists c areer illu strates m ore vividly th a n D egas's the

history of th a t tro u b led yet fru itfu l m arriag e of p ain tin g an d literatu re
in the second h alf o f the n in eteen th cen tu ry w hich, d esp ite th e p a rtn e rs
freq u en t avow als o f in d ep en d e n ce an d occasional liaisons w ith o th er
arts, seem s in retro sp e ct to h ave b een one o f the essen tial featu res of
th e period. F or he w as b o th a p a in te r d ed icated to p u rely form al v aria
tions on a restricted g ro u p of th em es an d an illu strato r responsive to
m any types of fiction, d ram a, an d poetry; an outsp o k en , even violent
critic of w riters w ho m eddled in a rt a n d a close friend of m an y leading
novelists an d poets o f his tim e; a p aro ch ial th in k er of w hom R edon
rem arked, "H e h as re a d nothing, except som e book or o th e r of 1830,
som e stu d io gossip in w hich Ingres o r D elacroix is sp o k en of, 1 and a
catholic re a d e r o f w hom his niece recalled, L iteratu re h ad alw ays
deeply interested him . . . . S om etim es, for his ow n p leasure, he re a d one
o f his favorite au th o rs alo u d .2 In short, he is an ideal figure in w hich
to study those intim acies an d ten sio n s in th e union o f the tw o arts th at
have tro u b led the m o d ern ist trad itio n from C o u rb ets and B au d elaires
tim e dow n to o u r own.
As is often the case, D egass v eh em en t rejectio n o f th e literary p ro fes
sion barely concealed an equally p ow erful attra c tio n to it. A ccording to
Valery, w ho w as a ra th e r sh rew d ju d g e in such m atters, th ere w as in
him , in ad dition to th e artist, a p o ten tial w riter, as w as m ad e sufficiently
clear by his m ots, an d by his ra th e r fre q u en t h a b it o f q u o tatio n from
R acine and Saint-S im on.3 Inevitably, som e o f th e cleverest of these
147
148
a p h o ristic rem ark s co n cern ed the su p erio rity o f a rt to literatu re, su ch

as the one later rep o rted by R ouault: L iteratu re explains art w ithout
u n d erstan d in g it, art u n d e rsta n d s litera tu re w ith o u t explaining it.4 The
sense of literary form revealed by this saying is equally a p p a re n t in the
eight so n n ets th a t Degas com posed aro u n d 1889, w hose qu ality an d
originality Valry ad m ired : I have no d o u b t th a t this a m a te u r w ho knew
how to lab o r at his task . . . could h ave been, if he h ad given h im self
w holly to it, a m o st rem ark ab le po et in th e style 1860-1890.5 F or us,
it is even evident in his co rresp o n d en ce, w here he often alludes to w orks
of literature, or p aro d ies th e styles of o th e r w riters, o r contrives highly
expressive form s of his ow n, su ch as the letter, obviously com posed in
a bleak an d lonely m ood, w hich consists entirely of short, u n co n n ected
sentences, accen ted by ironic pu n s: N ot to finish at th e Salon, a life
spent elsew h erein the kitchen. T here are b ad m o m en ts w hen one m u st
use o n es reason. De la Croix has a p a in te rs nam e. . . . T here are trav
elers h a p p ie r th a n I am . Do I m yself travel? asked a statio n m aste r.6
In retrosp ect, th e m an o f le tte rs in Degas seem s to have been p a r
ticularly fo rtu n ate in th e circu m stan ces of his b irth an d later career,
w hich en ab le d him bo th to cultivate a ta ste fo r th e F rench an d L atin
classics a n d to b eco m e intim ately acq u a in te d w ith the leading m ove
m ents of his ow n day. H aving been born into a w ell-connected bourgeois
fam ily w ith an in te re st in th e arts, an d h aving received a solid classical
ed u catio n a t the Lyce Louis-le-G rand, he acq u ired early th e varied
interests th a t those w ho w ere fam iliar w ith the co n ten ts of his library
still rem ark ed at the end of his life.7 M oreover, he w a s in his m iddle
years an active m e m b er o f th e av an t-g ard e literary an d artistic circles
at the Caf G uerbois an d th e Caf de la Nouvelle-Athnes, an d in his
later years a p a rtic ip a n t in su ch fash io n ab le salons as th o se o f M m e
E m ile S tra u s an d Jacq u es-E m ile B lanche, w here he m et m any of th e
w riters of the next generation. Even the decad e o f his birth seem s to
have been propitious, for it p erm itted him to w itness a series of ex tra o r
dinarily vital d evelopm ents in F ren ch lite ra tu re in his youth, R o m an ti
cism and Realism ; in his m atu rity , N atu ralism a n d the P arn assian s; in
his old age, Sym bolism a n d th e D ecad en tsd evelopm ents th a t were, in
addition, closely involved w ith p arallel p h en o m en a in th e visual a rts.8
Like these m ovem ents them selves, b u t w ith som e significant tim e lags,
The Artist and the Writer
149
D egass con tacts w ith th em can be sch em atized as beginning w ith a

R om antic p h ase from a b o u t 1850 to 1865, shifting to a N atu ralist p h ase
from ab ou t 1865 to 1885, an d en d in g w ith a Sym bolist p h ase from a b o u t
1885 to 1900. N eedless to say, the th ree p eriods w ere of u n eq u al im p o r
tance for him , the N atu ralist o n e easily d o m in atin g th e o th e r two; an d
there were, as w e shall see, m an y co n tin u ities o f taste. N evertheless, th e
sch em a is sufficiently valid to serve as an ou tlin e for th e follow ing
discussion, w hose su b ject, strictly speaking, is D egass taste in, affinities
w ith, a n d illustratio n s of n in eteen th -cen tu ry F ren ch literatu re an d the
a p p earan ce of his p erso n a n d p ictu res w ithin it.
t h e f ir st p h ase o f his career, driven by his am b itio n to rival the
m asters of R enaissance a n d R o m an tic a rt w hom he ad m ired , Degas
p ro jected in his n otebooks, stu d ied in countless draw ings, a n d occa
sionally realized in m a jo r pain tin g s a rem ark ab ly large n u m b e r of illus
tratio n s b ased on his read in g in biblical, classical, a n d R en aissan ce
lite ra tu re .9 A lthough th eir full discussion c a n n o t be u n d e rtak e n here,
th eir m ere n u m b e r an d variety are w o rth noting, for th ey reveal both
the extent of D egass literary c u ltu re an d th e stren g th o f its hold on his
im agination in these form ative y ears aro u n d 1860. D espite th e u n u su al
su b jects am ong th o se he selected from the Bible a n d the Lives of th e
Saints, from H om er, H ero d o tu s, a n d P lutarch, from D ante, B rantom e,
and Tasso, th e historical an d literary in terests th a t in fo rm th e m are on
the w hole typical o f th e R om antic perio d ; w h ereas th e texts he chose
to tran scrib e o r illu strate a n d th e figures he chose to p o rtray am o n g th e
R om antic w riters them selves are m o re revealing o f a p erso n al taste th at
em erged in these years. T h at ta ste cen te rs on five figuresG autier, Vigny,
G eorge S and, M usset, an d B arbey d Aurevillyw ho w ere all a g eneration
o lder th an Degas and, except fo r B arbey, u nknow n to him personally,
although all w ere still w idely read w hen he tu rn e d to th em in the fifties
and sixties.
In
T here w ere, of course, o th e r R o m an tic w riters in w hom he m ay have

b een equally interested . H is niece re p o rts th a t he p laced am o n g th e
g reatest poets n o t only G autier, Vigny, an d M usset, b u t L econte de Lisle
an d H ugo, th a t he co n sid ered S ainte-B euve th e m o st su b tle m in d of
his tim e, an d th a t he re a d rep eated ly F la u b e rts novels as well as his
150
co rrespond en ce: H e knew by h ea rt certain passages in th e letters

w ritten by the h erm it of C roisset to Louise C olet, 10 no d o u b t d iscovering
in them a solace for his ow n u n h a p p y loneliness. And according to
D aniel H alevy, he enjoyed h aving the histo rical novels of the eld er
D um as read to him in his later years, a n d even spoke w ith a certain
ad m iratio n of th e Socialist p h ilo so p h er P ro u d h o n , w hose rev o lu tio n ary
books On Justice an d On the Principle o f A rt he a d m ire d .11 Surprisingly,
how ever, one of th e g reatest R om antic w riters, B audelaire, is now here
m entioned in D egass co rresp o n d en ce o r in th e m em oirs o f his friends;
and w ere it not for a no teb o o k reference a ro u n d 1867 to th e p o e ts essay
on G au tie r12 an d an u n p u b lish e d letter o f 1869 in w hich M anet asks him
to re tu rn th e tw o volum es of B au d elaireu n d o u b ted ly R om antic Art
and A esthetic Curiosities, bo th p u b lish ed th e year b efo rehis a c q u a in t
ance w ith these essential texts w ould rem ain u n k n o w n .13 B ut if G autier,
Vigny, G eorge S and, M usset, an d B arbey d Aurevilly are no t the only
w riters of this period w hom Degas ap p reciated , they are nevertheless
those w ho eith er directly inspired his a rt o r a p p eared in it them selves.
In read in g G autier, it h as been observed, "one is con stan tly struck
by the sim ilarities o f outlook betw een him and D egas. 14 B oth m en
ad m ired th e plastic b eau ty of an cien t a rt an d w ished to resu rre c t its
sp len d o r in th e m o d ern w orld: G au tiers d ream o f "con tin u in g th e Greek
hym n to h u m a n b eau ty w ith m o d ern feelings a n d id e a s w as sh ared
by Degas, w ho, w hen asked w hy he alw ays p ain ted the ballet, replied,
"B ecause it is only th ere th a t I can rediscover the m o v em en ts of the
G reeks. 15 E arlier in th eir careers, b o th h ad a ttem p ted to rec o n stru c t
this ideal classical w orld in th eir w ork, relying on th e exam ple of In g re ss
historical p ictu res an d on an cie n t a rt itself; an d in at least one case,
a p ro jected pain tin g of King C an d au les Wife, Degas w as also influenced
by G autier.
In plan n in g an d collecting m aterial for th e p roject, in a no teb o o k of
1856, he m entioned only the passag e in H ero d o tu s w here the story of
King C an d au les sch em e to expose his w ifes b eau ty to a n o th e r m a n s
eyes is first told; b u t this b rief passage m erely n otes th a t "w hen she
tu rn e d h er back u p o n him , going to h er b e d , th e in tru d e r "slipped
privately from th e room ; the w om an saw him as he p assed o u t. 16 It
w as in G au tiers tale K ing C an d au les (1844) th at Degas m u st have
151
108 .
Degas, Stud}' for King

Candaules Wife, 1856. Pencil.
discovered the startled ex pression an d attitu d e of arreste d m ovem ent

th a t a p p e a r in all his stu d ies [e.g. 108]: By a su d d en m otion sh e tu rn ed
aro u n d before tak in g h e r place on the couch by the side of h er royal
h u sb an d . . . . If N yssia by a fatal ch an ce h ad no t tu rn ed h er h ead as
she set foot on the bed a n d seen him flee. . . . 17 From th e sam e source,
as well as from In g res's A ntio ch u s and Stratonice, an equally vivid im age
of a G reek interior, Degas m u st have d raw n m an y of his ideas fo r th e
setting of his p ro jec ted p icture, ju s t as Jean-L eon G erom e w as to do
in p ain tin g K ing C andaules Wife th ree years la te r.18 B ut like G erom e
and o th er Pompeistes of the period, in cluding G au tier him self, Degas also
stu d ied the rep rese n tatio n of figures, costum es, furn itu re, an d accesso r
ies on G reek vases. In the sam e n o teb o o k o f 1856 th ere are copies of
su ch details from the plates in F. P. H. d H ancarv ille's m o n u m e n ta l
Etruscan, Greek, a n d R o m a n A ntiquities ,19 som etim es indeed o f the very
ones th a t G autier m u st have had in m ind w hen h e evoked "one of those
lovely E tru scan vases w ith black b ack g ro u n d s an d red figures, ad o rn ed
109.
Degas, Copies after Engrav
ings of Greek Vases, 1856.
Pencil.
w ith one o f th o se su b jects know n as G reek to ilette. 20 T hus, th e w om an

show n dressing h er h a ir in one such scene is th e source bo th of D egass
copy [109] a n d o f G au tiers im age of C a n d au les wife, w hose "arm s
u n d u latin g like sw a n s necks curved above h e r head to roll a n d fix th e
tresses. 21
In ad d itio n to G reek civilization, th a t of an cie n t E gypt stirred th e
im aginatio n s of b o th m en, an d at alm ost th e sam e m o m en t. F o r the
w riter, this in terest cu lm in ated in The R om ance o f the M u m m y (1857),
a brilliant evocation of the ap p e a ra n c e of E gyptian life, based o n the
acco u n ts of travelers su ch as F lau b ert an d on th e illu stratio n s in a rc h a e
ological p u b licatio n s such as Jo sep h P a ssala cq u as.22 F or th e artist,
w hose curiosity w as rep o rted ly stim u lated by read in g G au tiers novel,
it resu lted in a long series of copies a fte r th e p lates in o th e r arch aeo lo g i
cal publicatio n s, notab ly th e m agnificent Description o f Egypt of N apo
leonic vintage, an d in an attem p t, aro u n d 1860, to in co rp o rate som e o f
this m aterial in his ow n pain tin g s of historical su b jects as is p articu larly
evident in his studies for The D aughter o f Jephthah.23
In this pictu re [32], th e larg est a n d m o st am b itio u s o f D egass h isto ri
The A rtist and the Writer
153
cal reconstructions, th e influence of a n o th e r R om antic w riter is evident,

and in fact helps to explain som e o f its u n u su a l features. F or co n trary
bo th to th e acco u n t in the Book of Ju d g es an d to earlier pictorial re p re
sen tatio n s of Je p h th a h retu rn in g h o m e victorious from w ar, Degas sets
the scene in an open, so m ew h at d eso late co u n try sid e ra th e r th a n n e ar
the w alls o r city gates o f M izpeh; show s J e p h th a h s d a u g h te r su rro u n d e d
by a group of h er co m p an io n s ra th e r th a n com ing fo rth alone to greet
him ; an d has h e r fath er, w ho h as vow ed to sacrifice th e first creatu re
he sees, alm ost collapsing at th e sight o f her, his h ead bow ed an d his
eyes closed, ra th e r th a n looking heav en w ard o r gesticulating d ra m a ti
cally.24 E ven m ore clearly th a n in th e p ainting, this last featu re is evid en t
in a p rep arato ry stu d y for the figure of Je p h th a h [110],25 Now precisely
these u n u su al elem en ts are fo u n d in Vigny's d ra m atic poem The
D aughter of J e p h th a h (1820), one of a series on biblical an d classical
them es th a t w ere very p o p u la r at the tim e a n d w ere repo rted ly am o n g
D egass favorites in R om antic p o etry .26 D escribing th e m o m en t w hen
Je p h th a h recognizes his d au g h te r in th e distance, Vigny w rites: The
110.
Degas, Study for The

Daughter o f Jephthah, ca.
1859. Pencil.
154
w hole p o p u latio n thrills to th e celebration. B ut th e so m b e r victor w alks

w ith low ered h ead ; d e a f to th is so u n d of glory, silent a n d alone. S u d
denly he stops, he h as closed his eyes. H e h as closed his eyes because,
from the city far aw ay, th e m aid en s are a p p ro ach in g w ith a slow, tra n
quil pace a n d singing. H e sees this religious chorus. T h at is why, full
of dread, he h as closed his eyes. 27
Like Degas, then, Vigny isolates an d em phasizes th e principal actors
visuallythe fath er, w ho alone is aw are of his fate, closing his eyes in
dread, and the d au g h ter, u n aw are b u t already p a rt of a religious chorus,
m oving tow ard him from th e city far away. In a la ter passage, Vigny
develops fu rth e r this th em e of religious resignation, m aking th e d au g h
ter's fate a cen tral elem ent in his in terp retatio n , w h ereas traditionally
sh e h ad m erely been th e o ccasion of h e r fa th e rs g rief;28 an d Degas, too,
show s h e r sw ooning a n d h er co m p an io n s d espairing, as if already aw are
of h er destiny. A sim ilar em p h asis on th e d a u g h te r's lam en tatio n also
occurs in o th er R o m antic tre a tm e n ts of th e su b ject, such as th o se in
B yrons H ebrew M elodies, T ennysons D ream of F air W om en, an d
C h a te a u b ria n d s "R o m a n tic M elodies, b u t n o n e of th em opposes it so
dram atically to a co rresp o n d in g em p h asis on th e fa th e rs d espair, an d
none describes th e scene in su ch g rap h ic term s. Indeed, th e biblical
acco u n t itself is far m ore a b stra c t an d colorless, so th a t Vigny, w hile
follow ing its o utlines closely, also h ad to su p p lem en t it w ith descriptive
details gleaned fro m o th er passag es in th e Bible an d from th e co m m en
taries of A ugustin C alm et, C laude Fleury, an d o th er sch o lars in o rd er
to p ain t his vivid a n d d ram atic p ictu re .29 It w as no d o u b t this essentially
pictorial asp ect of his version o f the tragedy th a t m ad e it so congenial
a m odel for Degas.
An attrac tio n to th e visual elem en t in R om an tic lite ratu rein th is case,
th e renderin g o f a p ictu resq u e type ra th e r th a n a d ra m a tic a ctio n is
also a p p a re n t in D egas's tran sc rip tio n o f a long p assage in one of G eorge
S a n d s rustic novels describ in g a p e a san t girls w ed d ing costum e. It
occurs in the essay A C ountry W edding, p u b lish ed as an ap p en d ix to
The D evils M arsh (1846), an d it dw ells nostalgically n ot only on the
charm ing, o ld-fashioned form o f th e costum e, w hich h a d once been
trad itio n al in h er native region o f Berry, b u t on th e in nocence and pu rity
of m an n ers it h ad ex p ressed so well. "N ow adays they display th eir scarfs
155
m ore p roudly, she w rites o f th e p e a sa n t girls of h e r ow n day, b u t there

is n o longer in th e ir dress th a t d elicate flower o f th e p u rity of long ago,
w hich m ad e them look like H o lb ein s V irgins.30 A fam iliar th em e in
h er p asto ral novels, this nostalg ia fo r th e m odesty a n d dignity of an
earlier age w as also ch aracteristic of Degas, w ho in la te r years w as o ften
o u tspoken in regrettin g th e d isa p p e aran c e from c o n tem p o rary life o f the
so b er bourgeois m orality he h ad know n in his youth.
H ow ever, this w as p ro b ab ly n o t his only reaso n for choosing to tra n
scribe th e passage in a no teb o o k th a t he used a ro u n d 1860 [111 j.31 Since
he obviously did so afte r having d raw n the w o m a n s head an d th e
w an d erin g lines th a t a p p e a r above it, its co n ten t m u st som ehow have
been suggested by th a t o f th e draw ing. And since th e la tte r rep ro d u ces
a R en aissance draw in g in th e L ouvrea H ead o f the Virgin by R oger
van d er W eyden [112]32Degas m u st have recalled the ap p ro p ria te
passage in The D evils Marsh a fte r h aving copied the draw ing, the text
th u s illu stratin g th e im age ra th e r th a n th e reverse. M oreover, this text,
111. Degas, Copy after Van der Weyden's Head o f the Virgin, ca. 1860.
Pencil.
Bibliothque Nationale, Paris.
112. Van der Weyden, Head o f the Virgin, ca. 1455. Silverpoint.
156
although b ased on G eorge S a n d s m em o ries o f h e r native region, is in

tu rn inspired by an im age, the Virgins of H o lb ein to w hich she refers
in the passage ju st qu o ted . In fact, H o lb ein 's art played an im p o rtan t
role in the genesis of th e novel, as she ind icates in a p refato ry sta tem en t
acknow ledging h e r d e b t to one of the w o o d cu ts in his fam o u s series
The Dance o f Death.*3 And in h e r earlier novel Jeanne (1844), th e h e ro
ine is partly b ased on one of H o lb ein s p ictu res o f th e Virgin, w hich
she ch aracteristically describes as d epicting a m u sin g girl of the fields,
severe an d sim p le.34 The w orks to w hich she refers, bo th th ere a n d in
The D evils Marsh, a re p resu m ab ly th e D arm stad t a n d S o lo th u rn
M adonnas, H o lb ein 's m o st fam iliar p aintings of this su b je c t.35 And since
th e D arm stad t M adonna in p a rtic u la r show s a type of Virgin strikingly
sim ilar to th e one by Van d er W eyden th a t Degas copied, w hich in his
day w as a ttrib u te d to D rer, a co n tem p o rary of H olbein, we have re
tu rn ed , by a ra th e r curious path, to a p o in t q u ite close to th e one w here
we began.
Alfred de M usset, th e th ird R om antic w riter in w hom Degas w as
in terested, w as o f course one in w hom G eorge S and h erself h ad show n
a certain interest. T h at Degas w as aw are o f th eir liaison, an d of the m any
oth ers in th e p o e ts life w hich h ad becom e p ublic know ledge by this
tim e, is evident in an a m u sin g com position th a t he p ain ted a ro u n d 1869
to d eco rate a w o m a n s fan [113]. In it, M usset ap p e a rs at the left, as
a reveler w ho h as tem p o rarily jo in ed a tro u p e of S p an ish d an cers an d
m usician s p erfo rm in g o u td o o rs and is seren ad in g o n e o f th e d an cers
w ith a g u ita r.36 This, at least, w as th e trad itio n a l id entification o f the
figure in th e fam ily of B erthe M orisot, to w hom Degas offered th e fan
shortly a fte r p a in tin g it; an d it is su p p o rte d by co m p ariso n w ith th e m ost
w idely rep ro d u c e d p o rtra its of M usset, one of w hich m u st have served
as D egass m o d el.3' In this case, of course, the p o e ts am o ro u s ad v en tu re
is a purely im aginary one, p e rh a p s in sp ired by th o se he describ es so
vividly in th e Tales o f Spain a n d Italy (1830).
Yet the fact th a t Degas conceived it as p a rt o f th e d eco ratio n for a
fan, w hich he offered to M orisot, suggests th a t he w as p racticin g a
playful, ap p ro p riately artistic form of co u rtsh ip him self. Indeed, she
intim ates as m u ch in a letter o f 1869 describin g a recen t gath erin g in
M anet's hom e: "M. Degas cam e an d sat beside m e, p reten d in g th a t he
157
113. Degas, Fan: Spanish Dancers and Musicians, 1867-1869. Brown ink
and watercolor.
Formerly collection of Mme Ernest Rouart, Paris
w as going to co u rt m e, b u t this c o u rtin g w as confined to a long co m

m en tary on S o lo m o n s pro v erb : 'W om an is th e deso latio n o f the rig h t
eo u s. 38 D espite this u n u su al tactic, D egas m u st have been persuasive,
at least artistically, for M orisot no t only copied this fan in several w atercolors, b u t rep ro d u ced it pro m in en tly in the b ack g ro u n d of a dou b le
p o rtra it she pain ted th a t y ear.39 In ironically assu m in g th e role of a
suitor, Degas m ay well have b een co m p etin g w ith M anet, th ro u g h w hom
he h ad m et M orisot only a y ear earlier. F or M anet, too, h ad sh o w n a
p a rticu lar in terest in h e r an d h ad even p o rtray ed h er in a S p an ish guise
in The Balcony, a com position obviously based on o n e by Goya; m o re
over, he h ad already d ep icted a c o m p an y o f S p an ish d an cers an d m u si
cians in The Spanish Dancers of 1862, a n d in th e sam e y ear h ad d eco rated
a fan w ith m otifs from th e bullfight.40
A lready fascinated a d ecad e e arlier by the legends su rro u n d in g M us
set, Degas tried to envisage an "epic p o rtra it o f him th a t w ould com bine
th e g ra n d e u r of R en aissan ce a rt with a sp irit of m odernity. In a no teb o o k
of a b o u t 1859, he sketched a seated figure o f th e R om antic poet, his head
m
V
\
1>
114. Degas, Study for a Portrait of Alfred de Musset, ca. 1859. Pencil.
115. Palma Vecchio, Portrait of Ariosto, ca. 1515. Oil on canvas.
National Gallery, London
tu rn e d m editatively do w n w ard to th e rig h t [114], a n d o pposite it he re
m arked: How to m ake an epic portrait of Musset? The Ariosto of M. Beaucousin says a great deal, but a com position th a t will d epict o u r tim e
rem ain s to be fo u n d . 41 The Portrait o f Ariosto [11.5], a six teenth-century
Venetian w ork form erly in th e collection of E d m o n d B eaucousin, a
friend of D egass fam ily, is now a ttrib u te d to Palm a Vecchio ra th e r th a n
Titian, b u t its su b je c t is still identified as th e g reat Italian poet; h e is
in fact show n w ith laurel leaves b eh in d him a n d w ith an expression of
reverie th a t m ight well be called poetic.42 In using this im age of T itian s
fam ous co n tem p o rary as a m odel, Degas p ro b ab ly h o p ed to endow his
159
ow n p o rtra it of a n early c o n tem p o rary figure w ith som eth in g o f its

nobility. M usset h ad died only tw o years earlier, a n d w as in 1859 the
su b ject of a literary co ntroversy sp ark ed by the pu b licatio n of G eorge
S a n d s au tobiograp h ical novel Sh e a n d He, w here, by th e way, the
principal figures are b o th a rtists.43 Degas m ay also have conn ected the
Ariosto, a w ork attrib u te d to Titian, w ith M ussets p o p u la r story, The
Son of T itian (1838), w hose h ero is en d o w ed w ith his fa th e rs talen t
b u t is so overw helm ed by love th a t he ren o u n ces art.44 U nable to find
th e specifically m o d e rn form he w as seeking, Degas ab a n d o n ed the
project; b u t it rem ain s a d o c u m en t o f his fascination w ith M ussets
personality.
In B arbey d'Aurevilly, too, it w as n o t the w riter b u t the m an, n o t th e
a u th o r of th e sadistic a n d licentious stories in The Diaboliques, b u t the
d an d y w ho cu t an extravagantly m odish, yet curiously o u tm o d ed , figure
in the literary salons o f Paris, th a t in terested Degas. T hus h e p o rtray s
B arbey, in a no teb o o k sketch of a b o u t 1877 [116], as th e d o m in an t
personality in one o f the m ost fash io n ab le o f th ese salons, th a t o f Mme
C harles H ayem , w here he w as accu sto m ed to playing th e lion.45 S eated
before him are th e p h ilo so p h er A dolphe Franck, a d istinguished p ro fe s
so r at th e Collge de F rance, an d his hostess, a talen ted scu lp to r w ho
later m odeled a p o rtra it b u st of B arbey; b u t it is clearly the la tte rs figure
th a t a ttracts Degas, w ho rep eats its elegant silhouette in th e m argin. T hat
116. Degas, Barbey dAurevilly in the Salon of Mme Hayem, 1877. Pencil.
Formerly collection of Ludovic Halvy, Paris
160
this w as in d eed a ch aracteristic pose, b o th physical and social, is evident

from a co n tem p o rary d raw in g by Flix R gam ey of a n o th e r literary
salon, w here B arb eys im posing figure d o m in ates a still m ore d istin
guished co m p an y .46 Unlike R gam ey, how ever, Degas seem s to have
taken the m e ta p h o r of th e lion seriously, for in a n o th e r sketch, d raw n
a few years later, he d epicts the w rite rs frow ning, ra th e r shaggy h ead
in th o se very term s.47
T he elem en t of cultivated fierceness in B arbeys perso n ality u n d o u b t
edly stru ck a responsive c h o rd in Degas as he grew o lder and o utw ardly
fiercer him self. A h in t of his a d m iratio n for it ap p ears b en eath his
indignatio n even w hen he is rep o rtin g to frien d s a p articu larly u n p le a s
a n t story of th e w riters ru d en ess to L ouise Read, his dev o ted co m
p an io n .48 M oreover, B arbeys reactio n ary political an d religious views,
b ased on those of Jo se p h de M aistre an d the C atholic resto ratio n g en er
ally, m u st have ap p ealed to Degas, fo r w hom th e M em orial was, w ith
M aistre, one of his favorite rea d in g s.49 On the o th er h an d , th e one
passage in B arbeys in n u m erab le p u b licatio n s th a t Degas actually tra n
scribed, an ap h o rism he fo u n d in the n ew sp ap er Le Nain Jaune (1867),
expresses a typically d an d y ish ideal o f elegance as n o n ch ala n t an d even
as en h an ced by a to u ch o f aw kw ardness: T here is at tim es in aw k
w ard n ess a certain ease w hich, if I am n ot m istaken, is m ore graceful
th an grace itself.50 C learly it w as th e yo u th fu l Barbey, the apologist of
B eau B rum m el a n d a u th o r of D andyism , w ho ap p ealed here to the
youthful Degas.
I f D egas's q u o ta tio n from Barbey, like his sk etch es o f th e la tte r a d ecade
later an d the en th u siasm he show ed for Don Quixote and The Arabian
Nights tw o and even th ree decad es later,51 is a sign o f a lingering Ro
m an tic taste in literatu re, th at q u o tatio n w as nevertheless som eth in g of
an an ach ro n ism by 1867 bo th in his ow n dev elo p m en t a n d in th a t of
advanced a rt generally. By this tim e he h ad already been in tro d u ced ,
th ro u g h M anet an d D uranty, into the circle o f artists an d w riters at the
Caf G uerbois w ho w ere creatin g N atu ralism an d Im p ressio n ism , and
he him self h ad tu rn e d aw ay from historical su b jects of a R o m antic
inspiration to w ard the co n tem p o rary u rb an scene th a t w ould occupy
him hencefo rth . F o r at least tw enty years now his p rin cip al literary
161
co n tacts an d affinities w ould be w ith the N atu ralist w riters, especially

D uranty, Zola, E d m o n d de G oncourt, a n d H u y sm an s, all of w hom ,
except H uysm ans, w ere o f his ow n g eneration. In this period, too, he
w ould co llaborate on various p ro jects w ith th e lib rettist and playw right
Ludovic H alevy, w ho w as also an exact co n tem p o rary , in fact a fo rm er
schoolm ate.
S urprisingly, how ever, th ere is little evidence of D egass in terest in
the w ork of tw o m a jo r N atu ralist w riters, D audet an d M aupassant,
although he w as acq u a in te d w ith b o th .52 E vidently he a n d M au p assan t
d id ad m ire th e g rap h ic p o w er of each o th e rs art; for acco rd in g to his
niece, Degas considered th e w riter an absolutely re m ark ab le stylist w ho
could create vital, colorful im ages of life an d m e n ,53 an d M aup assan t,
despite a predilectio n for fash io n ab le S alon a rttypically, th e w orks of
a rt in his novels are b ased o n th e B ath ers o f H en ri Gervex an d th e
D ancers of A lexandre F alguiere ra th e r th a n th o se of D egasdid send
th e latter a copy of Pierre a n d Jean (1888) inscrib ed to him : [H e] p ain ts
life as I w ould have liked to be ab le to p ain t it.54 Yet w hen Degas, w ho
h a d already devoted a pow erful series o f m o n o ty p es to the brothel, was
com m issioned to illu strate The Tellier Establishm ent, h e b egan (and
never com pleted) a draw in g o f a ballet d a n c e r.55
The first and p ro b ab ly the m ost im p o rta n t o f D egass c o n tac ts w ith
th e N aturalist w riters w as w ith D uranty, w hom he m e t a b o u t 1865.56 At
this critical m o m en t in his d evelopm ent, D uranty, w ho h ad been a
leading advocate of Realism for over a d ecade, m u st h ave b een of
p a rtic u la r significance for him . In fact, D u ra n ty s co n cep tio n o f R ealism
as th e depiction o f c o n tem p o rary su b jects in a dryly im p erso n al style
devoid of virtuosity w as precisely th e one Degas him self b egan to follow,
in co n trast to th a t o f M anet an d th e em erging Im p ressio n ists. Degas m ay
also have been to u c h ed by th e w rite rs p erso n al aloofness, grow ing
d isillusionm ent, a n d freq u en tly m o rd a n t irony, qualities th a t he w as
beginning to experience in h im self.57 H ence it is u n d e rsta n d a b le th at,
of all the literary figures in this circle, D u ran ty alone a p p e ars in his
p o rtraitu re, and m o re th a n once. In a d d itio n to th e w ell-know n likeness
p a in ted in 1879 [6], w hich show s him in his book-lined study, his h an d
su p p o rtin g his h e a d in a ch aracteristic gesture, th ere is a n o th e r one,
p ain ted a decade earlier, w hich w as n o t recognized until recently b e
162
cau se it occurs in a g en re scen e.58 G enerally called Sulking, b u t occa

sionally also The B anker [83], it re p resen ts th e office of a sm all, privately
o w ned ban k o f the S econd E m pire, p e rh ap s the one d irected by D egass
fath er, an d the b a n k e r him self, w ith his co n tra cte d featu res an d reced
ing, dark blond hair, is m odeled on D uranty.
W hat m akes his p resen ce in The B a n ker so fitting is th e ex ten t to w hich
th is w ork illu strates th eo ries o f expression an d d escrip tio n th a t he h ad
already developed an d th a t D egas w as com ing in to co n tac t w ith at ju st
this tim e. The fo rm er theory, as w'e shall see m o re fully in C h ap ter V,
is stated both in D u ran ty s essay "On P hysiognom y (1867) an d in
D egass co n tem p o ran eo u s p ro g ram to tra n sfo rm the sch em atized faces
typical of acad em ic art in to p o rtray als of the m ore com plex em otions
ch aracteristic of m o d ern sensibility, such as the sullen w ith d raw al of
D uranty h im self in The B a n ker.59 The theory o f d escription, an im p o rta n t
one in N atu ralist aesthetics to w hich w e shall retu rn presently, is also
well illu strated by this painting, w hose fu rn ish in g s an d d co r Degas
depicts in scru p u lo u s detail, basin g th e w indow c o u n ter fitted with
o p aq u e glass, th e tab le piled w ith p ap ers, a n d th e rack filled w ith ledgers
on stud ies he h ad m ade in a n o teb o o k [e.g. 117], again p erh a p s in his
fa th e rs b a n k .60 A lthough D uranty did n o t co m m en t publicly on this
w ork, he did re m a rk on D egass p o rtrait of M m e G aujelin, show n at th e
Salon of 1869, One definitely feels th a t she has been p ain ted for a
certain place, w ith w hich she h arm o n izes w ell.61
117.
Degas, Study
for Sulking
(The Banker),
1869-1871.
Pencil.
Bibliothque
National, Paris
163
Ju st as D uranty a p p ears in a fictional guise in The Banker, a realistic

genre scene w ith n arra tiv e im plications, so D egas ap p e a rs in his ow n
guise in The P ain ter L ouis M artin , a fictional sto ry w ith real ch aracters
an d situations. F irst p u b lish ed serially in 1872, b u t largely b ased on
D u ran ty s souvenirs o f the years a ro u n d 1863, this curious blen d of fact
and fantasy brings to g eth er invented ch ara cte rs su ch as L ouis M artin,
th e young p ro tag o n ist of R ealism , an d c o n tem p o rary celebrities such
as C ourbet, M anet, a n d Degas him self.62 W hen M artin arrives at th e
L ouvre to begin copying a P oussin, he discovers th a t "b esid e him , also
struggling w ith th e P oussin, w as installed D egas, an d in fact su ch a
copy by him a fte r P oussin is not only k n o w n it is of The Rape o f the
Sabinesb u t is d a ta b le ca. 1862 precisely on th e evidence p rovided by
D u ran ty s sto ry .63 W hen M artin, expressing a typically R ealist position,
criticizes th e Poussin for bein g "o f a rid icu lo u s banality an d insignifi
c an ce, th e astonish ed Degas, still very m u ch a disciple of Ingres, praises
its "p u rity of draw ing, b re a d th of m odeling, g ra n d e u r of co m p o sitio n .64
T his essentially intellectual ap p ro ach , w h ich w as evident n ot only in
D egass copies b u t in his a rt generally, m u st have im p ressed D uranty,
for he goes on to ch aracterize him as an a rtist o f rare intelligence,
preoccupied w ith ideas, w hich seem ed stran g e to m o st o f his colleagues,"
an d refers to his active m ind, alw ays in fe rm en t.65
W hat this active m in d w as thinking, D uranty does no t say; b u t in his
w ell-know n p a m p h le t The N ew Painting (1876), w ritten on the occasion
o f the second Im p ressio n ist gro u p exhibition, he d iscusses D egass
co ntribution to recen t a rt in detail. W ithout n am in g h im paradoxically,
none of the figures in th is factu al acco u n t is n am ed , w h ereas th e fictional
one in "The P ain ter Louis M a rtin identifies th em explicitlyb u t alluding
u n m istakably to him , D uranty asserts th a t th e scries of new ideas was
form ed above all in th e m ind o f a d ra ftsm a n , . . . a m an o f th e ra re st
talen t an d the ra re st intellect.66 T hese new ideas consist above all in
establishing an intim ate ra p p o rt betw een th e figure in a w ork of a rt and
its setting, w hich m u st be ch aracterized as carefully as th e figure itself:
Since we em b race n a tu re closely, we will no longer sep ara te the p er
sonage from th e a p a rtm e n t o r street th a t form s th e b ackground. H e
never ap p ears to us, in actual life, ag ainst a neu tral, em pty, o r vague
b ack g ro u n d .67 And ju s t as th is pro g ram is perfectly illu strated by a
164
picture such as The Banker, so the exam ples th a t D uranty goes on to

give clearly allude to o th er w orks by Degas: H e will exam ine his sam ple
of cotton in his business office, he will w ait behind the set for the
m om ent to com e on stage, o r he will press the laundry iron on the
trestled table, an d so forth.68
This does not m ean, however, th at the radical ideas in The N ew
Painting were dictated by Degas, as som e w riters have m aintained.
Although m any of these ideas do reflect recent developm ents in his art,
the latter w ere inspired by a theory of description th a t had already been
form ulated by D uranty an d others in the R ealist m ovem ent tw o decades
earlier. In 1857, w hen the backgrounds of Degass portraits were still
conventionally neutral, a friend of D urantys h ad w ritten in their p erio d
ical Ralisme: In describing an interior, one often n arrates the private
life of an individual o r a fam ily.69 Yet in his ow n fiction D uranty
w avered betw een detailed, inventory-like descriptions, to w hich he sac
rificed the psychological developm ent of his characters, and very su m
m ary ones inspired by his colleague C ham pfleurys conviction that
literature cannot com pete w ith painting and should em ploy its own
techniques, w hich are in fact superior to those of painting.70 In this
uncertainty, D uranty expressed a dilem m a th at pervades N aturalist
literary theory as a whole. Even Zola, a far m ore assertive personality,
acknow ledged th at a concern with the pictorial aspects of description
w ould lead w riters into vain com petition w ith painters. In The Experi
m ental Novel, and again in The Naturalist Novelists, he argues that the
clear, precise definition of the surroundings an d their effect on the
characters [are] scientific necessities o f the contem porary novel.71 But
he is also aw are th at there can be abuses, especially in description. . . .
One com petes w ith the painters, to d em o n strate the suppleness and
brilliance of o n es prose.72
N owhere were the lines of this com petition m ore sharply draw n than
in Zolas frequent exchanges w ith Degasand not surprisingly, for of
all the Im pressionists he was n o t only the m ost literate an d articulate,
but also the m ost deeply involved in the representation of m odern urban
life, hence the one w ho could pose the greatest th reat of com petition.
In reviewing the 1876 Im pressionist exhibition, ab o u t w hich D uranty had
w ritten enthusiastically, Zola acknow ledges th a t Degas is enam ored of
m odernity, of dom estic life, and of its everyday types, b u t feels obliged
165
to add: The trouble is th at he spoils everything w hen it com es to giving

the finishing touches to a work. His best p ictures are sketches.73 And
in discussing the Im p ressio n ists reasons for exhibiting together in 1880,
he observes rath er m aliciously th at in Degas s case, he could show the
sketches, the scraps of studies, the sim ple strokes in which he excels,
and w hich w ould n o t have been accepted at the Salon. 74 Only in 1877,
in the course of a brief, generally favorable review in a provincial new s
paper, does he adm it th at Degas is a draftsm an of adm irable precision,
w hose least im po rtan t figures take on a striking plasticity.75 More
indicative of his real opinion is the letter he wrote to H uysm ans in 1883
on receipt of the la tte rs book M odem Art: The m ore I break away from
m erely curious corners of observation, the m ore I like the great copious
creators w ho bring us a world. I know Degas well, and for a long time.
H e is only a constipated [artist] of th e finest talen t. 76
Equally disdainful in his tu rn of the pettiness of Zolas encyclopaedic
conception of art, Degas rem arked: "H e gives m e the im pression of a
giant studying a telephone book.77 And the epigram m atic conciseness
of this statem ent, like th at of his oth er mots, is itself the expression of
an aesthetic of w hich he was perfectly conscious: "In a single b ru sh
stroke we can say m ore than a w riter in a w hole volum e.78 A ppro
priately, this was said in a conversation abo u t Zola. W hen questioned
fu rth er about him, Degas recalled th at he had know n him well, "with
M anet and M oore at the [Caf de la] Nouvelle-Athnes; we discussed
things endlessly, but th at fundam entally they h ad disagreed about the
n ature of Realism: "Zolas idea of art, cram m ing everything about a
subject into a book, then going on to an o th er subject, seem ed to me
puerile.79 Berthe M orisot records several o th er exam ples of Degass
insistence on the lim itations of Zolas m ethod, and precisely w here it
touched on painting. On one occasion, he suggested to the publisher
C harpentier a New Year edition of Zolas novel Ladies Delight (1883),
w hose setting is a dep artm en t store, to be "illustrated with actual
sam ples of fabric and lace80- a suggestion th at today seem s like a bril
liant anticipation of Pop Art, b u t at the tim e m ust m erely have seem ed
malicious.
Perhaps the m ost striking evidence of the great distance betw een
Degas and Zola is in their com m ents on The Masterpiece (1886), the
latter's novel ab o u t the failure of a m odern artist. A ccording to Morisot,
166
Degas insisted th at it h ad b een w ritten sim ply to prove th e im m ense

superiority o f th e w riter over th e p a in te r,81 an d this in fact is w h at Zola
him self, in an in terestin g co n v ersatio n re p o rte d by M oore, m ain tained
w as th e th eo ry of th e b o o k nam ely, th at no p a in te r w orking in the
m o d ern m o v em en t h ad achieved a resu lt p ro p o rtio n a te to th a t w hich
h ad been achieved by at least th ree o r fo u r w riters w orking in the sam e
m o v em en t.82 W hen Degas w as p ro p o sed as an exception to this rule,
Zola replied: I can n o t accept a m a n w ho sh u ts h im self up all his life
to d raw a ballet-girl as ranking co-equal in dignity an d p ow er with
Flaubert, D audet, a n d G o n co u rt. It is no t difficult to guess w hom he
m e a n t by the fo u rth w riter. Ironically, how ever, it w as Zola w ho here
expressed a n arrow ly N atu ralist co nception of art, one th at w as rejected
both by his Im p ressio n ist friends a n d by the Sym bolist po ets of the
follow ing g eneration, w ho w ere already able to adm ire th e artistic ra th e r
th a n th e realistic aspects of Im p ressio n ism . The young are very e n
th u siastic ab o u t o u r w o rk , P issarro observed in 1886. They tore Zola's
Masterpiece to pieces, it seem s to be com pletely w o rth lessthey are very
severe. 83
B eneath th e disd ain th a t Degas an d Zola felt for each o th e rs art, there
w as no d o u b t the realization th a t in m any resp ects it resem b led and
rivaled his ow n. In April 1876, w hen th e first in stallm en ts of Z olas novel
The D ram-Shop, co n tain in g g rap h ic descriptio n s o f lau n d resses at w ork,
began to ap p ear, five o f D egas's recent p ictu res o f lau n d resses w ere
show n a t th e Im p ressio n ist exhib itio n .84 In review ing the la tte rs co n tri
butio n to th e show , Zola n atu rally began w ith those pictu res, w hich he
fo u n d striking above all for th eir artistic tru th , bu t he did n o t m en tio n
th eir resem b lan ce to scenes in his novel.85 N or could they have influ
enced him directly; for even if som e m ay have been p ain ted as early
as 1869, an d tw o h ad b een show n at th e Im p ressio n ist exhibition in 1874,
w hich Zola also review ed, he h ad already decided som e years earlier
th at the p ro tag o n ist of this novel a b o u t u rb an w orking-class life w ould
be a laund ress, a fam iliar type in th e p o o r neigh b o rh o o d s he h a d fo r
m erly in h a b ite d .86 N evertheless, D egass p ictures m u st have stru c k Zola,
as they have m ore recen t critics, as re m ark ab ly an d p erh a p s u n c o m
fo rtab ly sim ilar to his ow n im ages.
Like the W oman Ironing now in the M etropolitan M useum [118], one
of those show n in 1876, his d escrip tio n of G ervaises shop on a su m m er
118. Degas, A Woman Ironing, ca. 1874. Oil on canvas.

168
aftern o o n evokes an a tm o sp h ere o f sw eltering heat an d b rilliant light:

This flood o f light . . . threw a blinding b rig h tn ess on the shop-board,
like a cloud of gold-dust sifted all over th e fine linen. . . . T he things
hu n g upon w ires to dry steam ed an d w ere as d ry as shavings. . . .8'
And like the Laundress now in th e Louvre, w hich w as show n in 1874,
his accoun t of C lm ence ironing a sh irt m akes acutely evident th e effort
she exerts: L eaning heavily on th e board, h e r w rists b en t out, h er
elbow s up in the air an d w ide ap art, [she] b en t h e r neck in a g reat effort,
and . . . h e r sh o u ld ers heaved up, th e tension of th e m uscles setting the
fine skin p alp ita tin g .88 To achieve th is effect of visual authenticity, one
of th e prin cip al goals of th eir N aturalism , both th e artist an d th e w riter
h ad investigated th eir su b ject thoroughly, en tering into it even to the
ex ten t of m asterin g its technical vocabulary. In describing G ervaise at
w ork on a bon n et, for exam ple, Zola specifies th e kind of iron she uses
for each o p e ra tio n th e polonais, a little iron ro u n d e d at b o th ends, . . .
th e coq, an egg-shaped in stru m en t fitted into a w ooden h o ld e r 89ju st
as Degas, in show ing his L aundresses to a visitor, delighted in speaking
th eir language a n d explaining to us technically th e pressing stroke of
th e iron, th e circular stroke, etc .90
This search fo r au th en tic d o cu m en ts of m o d ern life also led Degas
to accom p an y his w om en friends to m illinery shops, and Zola to sp en d
long aftern o o n s visiting d e p a rtm e n t stores w hen, at th e sam e m om ent
in the early 1880s, one w as p re p a rin g to p ain t a series o f pastels and
th e o th er to w rite a novel a b o u t th ese closely related subjects. The w riter,
it is true, w as in te n t on gaining an encyclopaedic know ledge o f th e com
m ercial o p eratio n o f su ch a store, w h ereas the artist, w hen asked w h at
he fo u n d so in terestin g in su ch a shop, replied: The red h a n d s of
the little girl h o lding th e p in s.91 As a result, L a d ies Delight read s in
places like a m ail o rd e r catalogue, as Degas im plied in p ro p o sin g th at
it be "illu strated w ith actu al sam ples, w hereas his p astels are brilliantly
con d en sed com p o sitio n s th a t focus on a few telling details. The salesgirl
in th e M etropolitan M u seu m s version [119], for exam ple, is so cleverly
concealed by th e m irro r th a t she seem s red u ced to ju s t su ch a detail,
like the pin-girl in th e an ecd o te.92 Yet these w orks also reveal a sh rew d
ness in observing social types th at is closely akin to th e n ovelist's. As
M oore rem ark ed a b o u t "th e fat, vu lg ar w o m a n in th e sam e pastel, you
169
c an tell exactly w h at h er p osition in life is, w hile the shopgirls in

a n o th e r pastel m ak e you "realize th e years of b o nnet-show ing a n d servile
w ords th a t these w om en have lived th ro u g h .93 It is the kind o f d istin c
tion th a t is d raw n rep eated ly in L a d ies Delight, m o st effectively p e rh ap s
in th e scene w here M m e D esforges, "d eterm in ed to be uncivil, exam ines
an d rejects w ith a n air of d isd a in th e g arm en ts show n h e r by Denise,
w ho m u st unfold th e g arm en ts an d fold th em u p again, w ith o u t allow
ing herself to m ak e a gesture of irrita tio n . 94 E ven th e p ictu re o f M m e
D esforges coolly observing h e rself in a m irro r corresp o n d s to th a t in
119. Degas, At the Milliners, 1882. Pastel.
lection, bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 29.100.38
170
A t the M illin ers. Yet even m ore clearly th an in th e case of th e la u n

dresses, th ere can be no q u estio n of d irect influence: th e first install
m en ts of Z olas novel a p p eared in D ecem ber 1882, and D egass pastels
w ere all pain ted in th a t year; conversely, they w ere n o t exhibited until
1886.
Given th e ir m u tu a l in terest in p o rtray in g th e lab o rs an d p leasu res of
m odern Paris, su ch co incidences w ere alm o st inevitable. N or are they
th e only ones th a t have been noted: at o n e end of th e social sp ectru m ,
D egass A bsinthe recalls irresistibly th e a tm o sp h ere of Zolas DramShop, especially th e scene w here G ervaise, having a b a n d o n e d p ride and
hope, drinks h erself into a stu p o r w ith C oupeau a n d his cro n ies;95 and
at the o th e r end, D egass Portraits at the Bourse an ticip ates som e of the
description s of th e Paris stock exchange in Z olas Money, w hich likewise
dw ell on its frenetic activity an d som ber, d reary tonalities.96 W h at is
m ore rem ark ab le, one o f D egass m ost im p o rta n t early w orks, Interior
[134], w as directly inspired by one of Z olas early novels. Thrse Raquin,
and p erh a p s also by its successor, M adeleine Frat, as we shall see in
C h ap ter V.
Intersectio n s su ch as these o f a rt a n d literatu re are ju s t as freq u en t
in the w ork o f Degas an d th a t of the G o n co u rt b ro th ers an d in som e
w ays m ore revealing, since he sh ared w ith them a b ro a d e r range of
social, psychological, a n d stylistic affinities. This w as already observed
by H uysm ans, w ho w ro te in 1880: They m u st h ave been, the one an d
th e others, the m o st refined an d m ost exquisite artists of th e cen tu ry , 97
and by G eorges Rivire, w ho la te r w rote: Degas w as m ore a tta c h e d to
the G oncourts th a n to Em ile Zola; th eir elegant realism suited th e spirit
of this w ell-born bourgeois. . . . The p a in te r professes the sam e disd ain
as th e novelists for p eople of a different social class th an his o w n.98
As H uysm an s rem ark ed , this lofty co nception of Realism resu lted in
both cases in an em p h asis on the su b tle o b serv atio n of m an n ers and
incisive definition of form s, a n d on ingenious in n ovations in th e use of
language o r pictorial technique. It also resu lted in a fascination w ith
those aspects o f m o d ern life in w hich the artificial seem s to d o m in ate
th e natural, especially in such su b jects as the ballet, the brothel, an d
the circus.
It w as in fact the b rilliant artificiality of a circus p erfo rm an ce th at
171
en ab led Degas to c o n tra st his ow n art m ost clearly w ith th a t of th e

Im p ressio n ist lan d scap e p ain ters, to one of w hom he declared: F or you,
n a tu ral life is necessary; for m e, artificial life. 99 It also en ab le d him
to create one o f his m o st rem a rk a b le im ages, th a t of th e ac ro b a t Miss
La La dram atically silh o u etted ag ainst th e ra fters of the C irque F er
n an d o , literally h a n g in g on by h er teeth high above th e u n seen au d ien ce
[120].100 T hat w as early in 1879; an d w hen, a few m o n th s later, E d m o n d
de G oncourt p u b lish ed The Z em ganno Brothers, w hich d epicts th e co u r
age an d skill of tw o circus acro b ats, Degas resp o n d ed en thusiastically.
120.
Degas, Miss La La at the

Cirque Fernando, 1879.
Oil on canvas.
National Gallery, London
172
H e acknow ledged all th a t w as u n n atu ra l in the so-called realism of th e

novel, Rivire recalled, he spoke of it to all his frien d s. 101 Its startlin g
im ages of acro b a ts p e rfo rm in g on an invisible w ire, as if su sp en d ed in
air, of the fem ale sta r La Taloche, for exam ple, w alking sw iftly back
a n d forth o r lying perfectly still, achieving for one m iracu lo u s m om ent
the n o n ch ala n t b alancing in the air of a w o m a n s body w hich seem ed
to be resting on n o th in g , 102 m u st have stru ck him as close verbal
equivalents of his circus p icture. Like the latter, m oreover, they w ere
also idealized im ages o f his p e rfo rm an ce as an artist, con stan tly c o n
cerned w ith m ain tain in g a ten se equ ilib riu m betw een o p p o sed forces.
Indeed, one of th e friends to w hom he w ould have spoken ab o u t The
Z em ganno Brothers w as B arbey d Aurevilly, w ho, in review ing th e novel,
developed a p arallel betw een th e grace an d stren g th of the acro b at an d
th a t of the w riter w hich w ould surely also have ap p ealed to the painter:
I am convinced that, for w hoever has a feeling for analogies an d a
capacity fo r m ysterious assim ilations, to w atch them is to learn how to
w rite. 103
A esthetically, if no t m orally, th e brothel, too, w as an exem plary su b ject
fo r E d m o n d de G o n co u rt as well as Degas, one in w hich the n atu ral
a n d the artificial, th e n ak ed tru th an d the cynical disguise, m ingled w ith
a special poignancy. B etw een 1877 an d 1880, each of them tre a te d this
su bject in an im pressive form , th e artist in a series o f m o notypes we
173
shall discuss presently, th e w riter in a novel a b o u t p ro stitu tio n w hich

th e o th er then illustrated. H e did so in his ow n m an n er, how ever, for
the rap id sketches th a t he d rew in an a fter-d in n er alb u m w hile visiting
friends in J 877 [121, 122], alth o u g h identified as illu stration s o f th e then
recently p u b lish ed w ork The Prostitute Elisa, are as m u ch D egass ow n
in v en tio n s.104 W hereas for G o n co u rt th e no v els significance lay in its
realistic depiction of th e in h u m an co nditions in c o n tem p o rary p riso n s
"p ro stitu tio n an d th e p ro stitu te, th a t is only an ep iso d e, h e explained
in the preface, "p riso n and th e priso n er, th a t is th e in terest of my
b o o k 105for Degas this episo d e w as th e sole so u rce o f in sp iratio n .
C oncentrating on th e one scene set in a b ro th el n ea r th e Ecole M ilitaire,
and proceeding w ith a sense of h u m o r alto g eth er foreign to th e text,
he caricatu res th e sly ra th e r th a n th e sordid aspects of the soldiers an d
th eir co m panions, pictu rin g th em soberly playing c a rd s o r quietly c o n
versing, as if in a bourgeois salon.
N evertheless, the general co nception, as well as specific d etails of the
m ilieu, th e physical types, an d the costum es they w ear are clearly in
spired by G o n co u rts text. This is all th e m ore in terestin g in th a t the
latter, although the p ro d u c t of direct o bservation, w as also b ased on
w orks of art; as G ustave Geffroy n o ted at th e tim e, m uch of its pictorial
form a n d tonality derive from d raw ings of soldiers an d p ro stitu te s by
C onstantin G u y s.106 H e w as in fact an ac q u a in tan c e o f th e G oncourts,
121 , 122 .
Degas, Illustrations
of Goncourts The
Prostitute Elisa,
1877. Pencil.
Formerly collection of
Ludovic Halevy, Paris
If***
____________
4
-
123.
Degas, Caricature of Edmond de
Goncourt, ca. 1879. Pencil.
an d one w hom E d m o n d d escrib ed in th e ir Journal as th e p a in te r of

the com m on w h o re. 107 As in th e case of D egas's relation to G eorge
Sand, then, b u t w ith a ra th e r d ifferent type of su b ject, his im ages illus
tra te a text th a t in tu rn illu stra tes an o lder a rtists im ages.
Given this m u tu al c o n tam in atio n o f a rt an d literature, it w as alm ost
inevitable th at Degas an d E d m o n d de G o n co u rt should co n sid er th e m
selves rivals. A cquainted from 1874 on, an d alike in th eir capacity for
ran co ro u s wit, as th e w riters gossipy Journal a n d th e p a in te rs sarcastic
sayings m ake clear, each fo u n d satisfactio n in caricatu rin g the other.
E d m o n d s im age o f this tiresom e, cap tio u s Degas, w ith his affectations
of w it and his clever m ots from the Cafe de la N ouvelle-A thenes, is
b u t one of m an y in his Journal in th e 1880s;108 ju s t as D egas's sketch
of E d m o n d as an effem inate, self-im p o rtant crea tu re re m ark ab ly like
th e fo rm er e m p ero r N apoleon III [123] is b u t one of m an y in his n o te
books in th e previous decade, th o u g h m ore in terestin g in th a t th e w rite rs
nam e an d a d d ress in his ow n h a n d a p p e a r d irectly ab o v e .109 It w as
p ro b ab ly also inevitable th a t each should resen t th e o th e rs m astery of
his m edium o r his discovery o f novel subjects. T hus Degas, w hose fre
175
quently self-conscious letters betray his unfulfilled literary am bitions,

parodies the excesses of E d m o n d s artistic style in several letters of
the 1880s. D escribing a b u st he is m aking in a frien d s hom e, for exam ple,
he w rites: You do not believe I am pursuing it relentlessly, with a fam ily
leaning over m y talent (G oncourt's style). 110 And the latter, in recording
his first visit to D egass studio in 1874, adm itted th at he was the one
w ho has best been able, in representing m odern life, to catch the spirit
of that life, but like Zola he felt obliged to add: "Now, will he ever
achieve som ething com plete? I dou b t it. H e is too restless a spirit. 111
Indeed, in revising this account m uch later, E dm ond retained the
passage, H e has becom e enam ored of the m odern, and w ithin the
m odem , he has chosen laundresses and dancers, but added, I cannot
find his choice bad, I who, in Manette Salom on [1867], have celebrated
these two professions as providing for a m odern artist th e m ost pictorial
m odels of w om en in o u r tim e. 112 E dm ond was, however, deceiving
him self; for if his novel of artistic life was an im p o rtan t statem ent of
the new aesthetic, and if Degas, who later acknow ledged it, according
to one visitor, as a direct source of his new p erception, 113 was u n
doubtedly encouraged by the exam ple of its protagonist Coriolis to take
up m odern subjects in general, he could hardly have been led by the
novel to laundresses and d ancers in particular. In fact, it does not
m ention the latter, and its only reference to the form erCoriolis n o ta
tion of the hip-shot pose of a laundress w ith a heavy b ask etalthough
apparently a description avant la lettre of D egass Laundresses Carrying
Linen, is based on earlier represen tatio n s of the sam e su b ject by D au
m ier and G avarni.114 It was, as W illiam R othenstein reports, probably
because Degas had told him th at m odern w riters got their inspiration
from p ain ters, th a t E dm ond was com pelled to assert his ow n priority
retrospectively.115
W ith m uch m ore justification, he m ight have cited those passages in
their Journal w here, already in the early 1860s, he and his b ro th er had
described precisely the types of th eater and ballet subjects th at Degas
was to paint a decade later. W ith an a rtists eye for the novel effects
of perspective and illum ination characteristic of th e stage, indeed with
repeated references to sim ilar effects in R em b ran d t and Goya, the Goncourts had created in their ow n m edium vivid pictures of dancers
176
reh earsin g w ith th e b allet m aste r beh in d the scenes, o r m o u n tin g the
spiral staircase in th e p ractice room , or m oving as lu m inous sh ap es
against th e so m b e r stage sets, very m uch as in som e of D egas's later
canvases an d p a ste ls.116 In one such passage, w ritten in 1862, th e very
stru ctu re of th e vision seem s to an ticip ate th a t of The Ballet [124],
p ain ted som e eighteen years later. In both cases, th e artist views the
stage from a loge, seated beside a young w om an: "We are at th e O pera,
in the d ire c to rs box, above th e stage. At o u r side, P eyrat an d Mile Peyrat,
a young girl. . .
In both, h e looks p a st h er to observe th e glittering
sta r on the stage: "A nd w hile conversing, I have m y eyes on a stage
flat opposite m e. . . . La M ercier, quite blonde, bedecked w ith golden
baubles, . . . is m odeled by light, ab solutely like the little girl w ith th e
chicken in R e m b ra n d t's N ight Watch. . . . And in both, h e glim pses
b eh in d the sta r th e vague sh ap es of o th e r p erfo rm ers in th e distance:
T hen, b eh in d th e lum inous figure of the d ancer, . . . a m arvelous
background of sh ad o w s an d glim m ers, . . . of form s th at lose th e m
selves. . . . m E ven th e allusion to R e m b ran d t is relevant to Degas, w ho
o ften rem ark ed , ap ro p o s th a t m a s te rs d ra m a tic use of light an d dark,
If R em b ra n d t h ad know n a b o u t lithography, heaven alone know s w hat
he m ight have m ad e of it, 118 and, as is a p p a re n t in The Ballet itself,
w as often influenced by th e o ld er a rtists chiaroscuro.
T he resem b la n ces betw een D egass im age an d th e G o n c o u rts were
not, how ever, signs of a m y sterio u s affinity, b u t ra th e r the resu lt of th eir
m u tu al reliance on a co n ventional m eth o d of rep resen tin g sp ace by
m ean s of th ree co n tra stin g planes, a m eth o d he h ad a b so rb ed while
copying in the L ouvre and they w hile p re p a rin g to w rite The Art o f the
E ighteenth C entury (1859-1870); th e influence o f th e ir art-historical studies
on th eir im aginative w riting has alread y been o b se rv e d .119 B u t the extent
to w hich both he an d they stress the subjectiv e quality of vision, by
placing the o b serv er in the foreg ro u n d of th eir im ages an d allow ing his
eccentric positio n to d eterm in e th e stru ctu re of the w hole, in d icates the
extent to w hich Degas an d the G o n co u rts w ere able to m odify the
conventional m eth o d in o rd er to express the g reater subjectivity of
m o d ern experience.
Like the G o n co u rt bro th ers, H u y sm an s often exhibited in his w ork
o f th e 1880s striking sim ilarities in su b ject an d style to the w ork o f
D egas; and no t surprisingly, since he w as b oth a disciple of th eirs in
The A rtist a n d the W riter
177
124. Degas, The Ballet, ca. 1878. Pastel.

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, gift of
Mrs. Murray S. Danforth
lite ra tu re a n d a c h a m p io n o f h is in a rt. If, as P is s a rro re m a rk e d a b o u t
H u y s m a n s 's e x h ib itio n re v ie w s in M o d e m Art, L ik e all critics, u n d e r
th e p re te x t o f n a tu ra lism h e m a k e s lite ra ry ju d g m e n ts , a n d m o s t o f th e
tim e sees o n ly th e s u b je c t o f th e p ic tu r e ," 120 th e im p a c t o f I m p r e s
sio n ism , a n d e sp e c ia lly o f D e g a ss u n u s u a l v e rsio n o f it, w as so g rea t
o n h is o w n v isio n a ro u n d 1880 th a t, in a d d itio n to b e in g so m e tim e s
a n e x te n s io n o f h is e x p e rie n c e o f life, a t o th e rs a p a ra lle l to h is o w n
w o rk ,121 D e g a ss p ic tu re s m u s t also h a v e p la y e d a n im p o rta n t ro le in
s h a p in g th a t e x p e rie n c e a n d w o rk . F ro m th e b e g in n in g o f h is c a re e r,
w h ic h w as as an a r t critic, H u y s m a n s h a d b e e n c o n c e rn e d w ith th e m o st
m in u te d e s c rip tio n o f p ic tu re s, a n d th e ir in flu e n c e o n h is fiction h a s b een
n o te d m o re th a n o n ce.
S ig n ifican tly , th e c le a re st e x a m p le s o f h is d e b t to D egas a re in his
178
scenes of brilliantly contrived e n tertain m en t: the d escrip tio n s of ballet

an d circus p erfo rm an ces in his p ro se poem s on m o d ern life, the Parisian
S ketches (1880). T hus, he sees the d an cers at th e Folies-B ergre exactly
as D egass b allet pictures, a b o u t w hich he h ad already w ritten p e rc e p
tively in 1876,122 h ad ta u g h t him to see them . It is, how ever, a different
vision from th a t w hich som e o f D egas's im ages sh are w ith those in the
G o n co u rts Journal, a vision th a t focuses m ore on th e physical dynam ism
of th e d a n c e rs m o v em en ts th a n on th eir seq u en ce of positions in space,
m ore on th e dazzling effects o f artificial illum ination th a n on a m y steri
ous half-light evocative of R em b ran d t. In H u y sm an s's text, precisely as
in a Degas p astel su ch as Dancers R o ckin g B ack a n d Forth [125] of ab o u t
1879, fo r a m om ent, u n d e r th e stre a m s of electric light in u n d atin g the
stage, a w hirlw ind of w hite tulle appears, sp attere d w ith points of blue
light, and, in th e cen te r of it, a w rithing circle of n ak ed flesh; an d then
the prem iere danseuse . . . dan ces on h e r toes for a while, shak in g the
false sequins w hich su rro u n d h er like a circle of golden dots; then she
leaps in th e air, and sinks b ack into h e r skirts, im itating a fallen flower
w ith its petals on th e g ro u n d an d its stalk in th e air. 123
H uysm an s w as fam iliar w ith D egass ballet p ictures m ore intim ately
th a n as a critic w ho saw them in occasional exhibitions; for according
to his friends, he h ad installed one in a place o f h o n o r in his a p a rt
m e n t.124 And as is o ften the case in H u y sm an s's w ork, the sam e picture
ap p ears in his d escrip tio n of a lictional setting, th a t o f the w riter A ndr
Jay an t in En Mnage (1881). A scene backstage, w ith dan cers in rose
gauze, resting, in fro n t o f stage flats d au b ed w ith g reen s, 125 it is obvi
ously a w ork su ch as th e pastel In the Wings: Two D ancers in Rose or
the sm all oil R ose Dancers before the Ballet. It is tru e th at D egass
disciple Forain, an in tim ate frien d of H u y sm an ss an d an artist w hom
he praised highly in M odern Art, also treated this su b ject in th e late
1870s, b u t th e ex tan t exam ples by Forain do no t resem ble so closely the
p ictu re described in E n M nage. 126
Even m ore evidently in d eb ted to D egasin this case, to M iss La La
at the Cirque F ernando [120], w hich H u y sm an s h a d ad m ired w hen it w as
125. Degas, Dancers Rocking Back and Forth, ca. 1879. Pastel.
Private collection, United States
179
180
exhibited in 1879is his description of an acrobatic perform ance at the

Folies-Bergere. Again insisting on the purely phenom enological aspect,
in contrast to G oncourt, who, in The Zem ganno Brothers, h ad k ep t the
personal and p athetic aspects in view, H uysm ans paints a verbal picture
closely resem bling Degass: Next, the w om an clim bs up to the net,
w hich sags u n d er her weight, . . . [and] directly opposite the m an but
separated from him by the entire breadth of the hall, she stands w ait
ing. . . . The two stream s of electric light directed onto her from the back
of the Folies com pletely cover h er from behind, breaking off at the bend
of h er hips, splashing her from head to toe, painting her, so to speak,
with an outline of silver gouache. 127 The last phrase points unm is
takably to a pictorial influence, and precisely that of Degas, w ho was
alm ost alone am ong th e Im pressionists at this time in exploiting the
brilliant, m atte quality of gouache. Here, too, the one exception is Forain,
who, in im itation of Degas, not only w orked in pastel and gouache, but
used them in depicting scenes of pop u lar entertainm ent; m oreover, he
w as closely enough acquainted with H uysm ans to be asked to illusti'ate
the first edition of Parisian Sketches. But like his paintings of this period,
F orains etched illustrations, even of the Folies-Bergere section of the
Sketches, focus entirely on intim acies and encounters w itnessed behind
the scenes or in the th eaters b a r,128 hence do not correspond as closely
as Degas's picture does to the perform ance described by H uysm ans.
N othing reveals m ore clearly the latters fascination with the technical
aspects of D egass art than his observation that in Miss La La at the
Cirque Fernando the painter, in o rd er to give the exact sensation of
the eye that follows Miss La La . . . [has m ade] the ceiling of the Circus
incline com pletely to one side, 129 an observation w hose equivalent in
D egass practice is the scrupulously detailed perspective draw ing of the
ceiling, on w hich he actually noted th at the rafters incline m ore [than
he has show n th em ]. 130
More than the ballet an d the circus, the brothel had a special fascina
tion for both Degas and H uysm ans as a subject im bued w ith th at m el
ancholy spirit of isolation and disillusionm ent w hich each of them
identified w ith a m odern sensibility. D rawn by n atu re to the closed,
nocturnal w orld of u rb an entertainm ent and distraction ra th e r than the
sunlit one chosen by th eir Im pressionist contem poraries, they found in
the brothel an ideal source of im agery. Of course, others in the N aturalist
181
m ovem ent also took u p this th em e aro u n d 1880not only E d m o n d de

G oncourt, b u t M au p assan t, Forain, Flicien R ops, an d several lesser
figuresbut in treatin g it, none o f th em expressed so p ro fo u n d ly cynical
an a ttitu d e tow ard w om en as th a t w hich in fo rm s H u y sm an ss novel
M artha, A Girl o f the Streets, an d D egas's m onotypes of ho u ses of p ro s
titution, an attitu d e of w hich th ere is fu rth e r evidence elsew here in th e
w ork of the tw o m e n .131 T heir trea tm e n ts are roughly co n tem p o rary , th e
novel having a p p e a re d in 1876 an d again in 1879, the m o notypes having
been executed ab o u t 1879-1880; yet th e fo rm er seem s definitely to have
influenced the latter. N ot sim ply b ecau se H u y sm an s singles o ut th e sam e
details in describin g th e settin g a n d th e w o m en s d re s s,132 since these
arc m ore o r less s ta n d a rd in im ages o f th e bro th el in th a t period; bu t
ra th e r b ecau se he d ep icts th e w om en them selves in th e sam e positions
of total physical ab an d o n , in c o n trast to w hich th eir attitu d es in o th er
w orks, such as The Prostitute Elisa a n d th e d raw ings o f Guys, seem
restrained, alm ost conventional.
T hus H uysm ans, view ing th e bro th el th ro u g h M a rth a s eyes, w rites:
She gazed w ith stu p efactio n u p o n the stran g e poses o f h e r com panions,
th o se droll an d vulgar b eauties, . . . stretc h e d upon th eir bellies, th eir
heads in th eir h an d s, cro u ch in g like b itchcs u p o n a tab o ret, o r clinging
like faded finery fro m the co rn ers of d iv an s. 133 And Degas, in the
m onotype In the Salon [126J, strew s th e ro o m in a sim ilar m a n n e r with
bodies of vulgar p ro p o rtio n s and d ep rav ed postures, in clu d in g one
126.
Degas, In the
Salon, ca. 1880.
Monotype.
Formerly collec
tion of Pablo
Picasso, Mougins
127.
Degas, Repose, ca. 1880.
Monotype.
show n crouching like a bitch, as in the text.134 Indeed, in an o th er m o n o

type, now ironically entitled Repose [127], he juxtaposes three bizarrely
placed n u d esone lying on the floor w ith her back to us, anoth er re
clining on a sofa w ith h er legs in the air, and a third scratching herself
w ith her legs w idespreadw hose grotesque appearance illustrates p e r
fectly H uysm an ss text and m ay well have been m ean t to do so .135 In
contrast to Degass images, those of Forain, w hich were actually con
ceived to illustrate the second edition of Martha, are m ore conventionally
lewd and lack their psychologically disturbing featu res.136
After H uysm ans, the G oncourts, and Zola, it is a relief to tu rn at last
to Ludovic Halevy, who was neither a b itter com petitor of Degas nor
a source of pessim istic subject m atter for his work. Both in his personal
relations w ith the artistas a form er schoolm ate w ho becam e one of
his few really intim ate friendsand in his professional achievem entas
a highly successful au th o r of light com edies and libretti w ho satisfied
his taste for Parisian w orldlinessHalevy stands in sharp co n trast to
these oth er figures. Of all the N aturalist w riters, only D uranty was as
close to Degas personally and, like Halevy, w as the subject of one of
183
his p ortraits. B ut if the p o rtra it of D uranty [6], the stu d io u s novelist and
a rt critic, show s him seated am id his p ap e rs an d books, th a t o f H alevy
[128], w hich w as also p ain ted in 1879, show s him stan d in g in th e w ings
of th e O pera, conversing w ith th e d ilettan te A lbert B oulanger-C ave.137
Like Degas him self, he w as th oroughly al h o m e there, having begun to
freq u en t the O pera as a young m an, w hen his uncle F ro m en tal H alevy
w as th e d irecto r of its chorus. D espite his fash io n ab le attire an d n o n
ch ala n t pose, H alevy a p p ears curiously so m b er and th o u g h tful; as he
h im self observed ra th e r w istfully, Myself, serious in a frivolous place:
th a ts w h at Degas w anted to ach ie v e."138 N othing sum s u p b e tte r the
sophisticated d e ta c h m en t th a t Degas ad m ired in him th a n th is im age
o f H alevy and his ow n w ry co m m en t on it; yet he, at least, rejected th e
role as too shallow , a n d w hen, a few years later, Degas criticized his
recen t novel The A hhe C onstantin (1882) for its su p p o sed sentim entality,
he lam ented: H e said in sulting things to m e this m orning. I m u st
184
alw ays do things like M adam e Cardinal, dry little things, satirical, sk ep
tical, ironic, w ith o u t heart, w ith o u t feeling. 139
C onsequently, it w as n o t The A bb C onstantin b u t The Cardinal Family,
th a t m asterp iece o f b an terin g im passivity . . . [an d ] decency in h a n
d ling unsav o ry th in g s, 140 w hich Degas chose to illu strate in a series of
m onotypes in the la tte r h alf o f th e 1870s. And ap p ro p riately , one of the
first [54] rep re sen ts H alvy an d M m e C ardinal stan d in g b ackstage at the
O pera in p ositions very m uch like th o se of him self a n d Cav in D egass
p o rtra it.141 It re p re sen ts the first episo d e n a rra ted by H alvy, his m eeting
w ith the m o th e r o f tw o young d an c ers w hose fo rtu n es at th e O pera an d
in m arriage, as reco u n ted to him in several su ch m eetings, co n stitu te
m o st of th e book. H ere Degas follow s th e text ra th e r closely, both in
the vivid p o rtra it o f M m e C ardinal, a sto u t lady, carelessly dressed,
w ith an old plaid shaw l over h er sh o u ld ers a n d huge silver spectacles
on h er no se, an d in the p lace m en t o f the figures in the little co rn er
at the sid e. 142 And elsew here, too, in the series he is co n ten t to illustrate
its m ore vividly ren d e re d incid en ts faithfully; for exam ple, th e am u sin g
one in w hich H alvy an d th ree c o m p a n io n sone o f them , a p a in te r,
is p erh ap s D egasacco st the C ardinal girls in a passage at th e O pera
in o rd er to p e rsu a d e them to accep t a d in n er invitation [129],143 The
129.
Degas, Pauline
and Virginia
Conversing
with Admirers,
ca. 1878.
Monotype.
Collection of Mr.
and Mrs. Clifford
Michel, New
York
130.
Degas, The Famous Good
Friday Dinner, ca. 1878.
Monotype.
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
tw o little C ardinal girls w ere b u rstin g to accept. 'B ut m am m a will never

co n sen t, they said. You d o n t know m am m a ! And su d d en ly th a t re
do u b tab le p a re n t ap p e a re d at th e en d of th e p assag e, exactly as in
D egass m o n o ty p e.144
In o th er cases, how ever, Degas ignores specific indications in the text
and instead rep resen ts sim ple, if ingeniously varied, g ro u p s o f d an cers
and th eir ad m irers conversing in th e w ings an d dressin g room s of the
O pera, very m uch as in his o th er w orks of th ese years. So ab so rb in g
is his in terest in this m ilieu th a t h e avoids m o st o f th e in cid en ts no t
situ ated w ithin it, in clu d in g su ch highly en te rta in in g ones as M. C ar
d in als career as a local politician, o n e d a u g h te rs m arriage to a m arq u is
and affair w ith an Italian tenor, and th e o th er d a u g h te rs ro m an ce w ith
a soldier. In co n trast, th e etchings m ad e by C harles L ean d re for th e 1893
edition of The Cardinal Family single o u t precisely these p ictu resq u e an d
d ra m a tic aspects o f th e story. H ow ever, Degas does rep re se n t a few
scenes of dom estic d ram a, n o tab ly th a t of M. C ardinal alm o st com ing
to blow s w ith his son-in-law th e m arq u is d u rin g the fam o u s G ood F riday
d in n er [130], w hich he ren d e rs in a rem ark ab ly expressive m an n er,
186
seizing on the m o m en t of g reatest tension w hen, as M m e C ardinal later

recalls, At th a t th e m arq u is calls m e a stru m p et; M. C ardinal gets up
an d tries to thro w a carafe at th e m a rq u iss h ead ; Pauline ru sh es o u t
of the room , w eeping; a n d Virginia, h a lf fainting, cries: 'P apa! M am m a!
E d w ard ! 145 B ut on th e w hole, D egass illu stratio n s are m ore a re c re a
tion of the spirit a n d am b ien ce of H alvys book th a n au th en tic illus
trations, an d this is p ro b ab ly w hy the la tte r refu sed to accep t th em for
publication , d esp ite his frien d sh ip w ith th e a rtist.146
At ab o u t th e sam e tim e, th e tw o friends collab o rated fruitfully on
a n o th e r p roject, the stage p ro d u ctio n of H alvy and M eilhacs The
G rasshopper (1877), a satirical com edy a b o u t co n tem p o rary artistic life
w ritten, as we saw in C h ap ter I, in th e w ake of th e first Im p ressio n ist
exhibitions an d th e violent reactio n s they h ad elicited. Som e of its satire
is of a type trad itio n ally d e a r to critics of m o d ern art, one pain ter, for
exam ple, lam en tin g th a t a canvas w hich he began ten m inutes ago is
n o t yet finished, a n o th e r exclaim ing th a t a canvas w hich h as accidentally
fallen on his p alette is actually im proved; b u t m o st of it is directed
specifically ag ain st th e Im pressionists. In fact, alth o u g h th e stage d irec
tions for the th ird act m erely m en tio n stran g e pictu res . . . bizarre
pain tin g s, Z olas review refers explicitly to th e set for the studio, w ith
its caricatu res o f fam ous canvases by M anet, C laude M onet, Degas,
C zanne, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, etc., 147 a n d w e m ay well w o n d er
w h eth er Degas w as resp o n sib le for this set. H e him self im plies as m u ch
in a letter to Halvy, w ritten w hile th e play w as in rehearsal, offering
his services for D up u is's stu d io , the one sh o w n in th is act: T here is
no use m y finding fau lt w ith it; th e thing pleases m e very m uch, and
I shall do it. 148
H e m ay ind eed have played a larg er p art in th e creatio n of The Grass
hopper, for according to Rivire, w ho w as p resen t w ith R enoir at the
opening, No o n e h ad any d o u b t a b o u t D egass involvem ent in the
elab o ratio n of the play. 149 W hen M arignan, the p a in te r p ro tag o n ist,
adm ires th e m o d ern ity of La Cigales n o seIt isn't G reek, th a t one, it
isn t old fashioned. . . . Is n t it Parisian! Is n t it m o d e rn !he is m erely
rep eatin g a sen tim en t already expressed by Degas in a letter to D uranty,
w hich th e latter h ad p u b lish ed in The N ew Painting the year b e fo re .150
And w hen M arignan alludes m ockingly to Im p ressio n ist theories of color
187
131.
Degas, Illus
tration of
Meilhac and
Halvys The
Grasshopper,
1877. Pencil.
Formerly col
lection of
Ludovic
Halvy, Paris
and light I am a lum inist. . . . I u n d e rsta n d light in a certain m a n n er

. . . an d I tre a t [things] th e w ay I see th em , even if th a t m ean s p ainting
a face violet o r g reen h e is sim ply echoing D egass low opinion of those
th e o ries.151 Yet he him self is n o t sp a re d a few satirical th ru sts, notably
w hen M arignan h as a m odel pose as a la u n d ress w ash in g linen, in
allusion to D egass w ell-know n in te re st in this subject. It w as evidently
a topic of discussion at th e H alevys, too, for in th e after-d in n er album
kept for him th ere he sk etch ed this in cid en t twice, o nce w ith M arignan
at his easel [131], th u s illu stratin g a th eatrical co ncep tio n he h a d origi
nally in sp ire d .152 H ow ever, the allusion m ay also be to the scene in The
D ram -Shop in w hich G ervaise is sh o w n w ashing linen; in 1877 Z olas
novel w as no less to p ical a su b je c t.153
A m ore im p o rta n t in stan ce o f D egas's influence on The G rasshopper
is the later scene in w hich M arignan, d eclaring th a t "w e are n o longer
Im p ressio n ists now, we are In ten tio n ists, we have in ten tio n s," displays
an ab stra c t com p o sitio n consisting of tw o eq u al areas, one blue, the
o th e r red, an d describ es it as a landscape, or ra th e r as tw o lan d scap es:
w ith the blue area below , " I ts the sea, the im m en se sea . . . lit u p by
a m agnificent su n se t, b u t w ith th e red area below , "It's the d esert, . . .
th e bu rn in g san d s of the d esert . . . an d above, an azu re sky. 154 For
188
if the design of such a picture, its horizon cleanly bisecting its surface,
recalls th at of a C ourbet o r a B arbizon School seascap e15:>and the first
act of the play is set in an inn at B arbizonits radically simplified
im agery is closer to th a t in a series of works executed ab o u t 1869 by
Degas him self. Among them is At the Seashore [4], a pastel w hose surface
is divided into tw o roughly equal areas of color so u n in terru p ted in their
sweep that it alm ost could be inverted to create an im age of the opposite
situation in n a tu re .156 Thus the subjects Degas shared w ith the N aturalist
w riters, although largely confined to the labors and pleasures of m odern
Paris, could also include a landscape alm ost devoid of content, one
conceived prim arily as a field of lum inous colors, in a m an n er th at today
seem s prophetic of the a rt of M ark Rothko.
I f i n t h e 1870s the boldly anti-N aturalist content of M arignans Intentionist landscape and, by im plication, of D egass Im pressionist seascape
seem ed so exceptional as to provoke laughter, it becam e in the following
decades a m ajo r direction b oth in his own art and in advanced art and
literature generally. And ju st as his work becam e increasingly ab stract
in form, brilliant in color, and subjective in expression after about 1885,
so that of the N aturalist w riters w ith w hom he had been associated also
evolved tow ard a m ore spiritualized form w ith affinities to Symbolism.
In that year, E dm ond de C oncourt adm itted: I rem ain faithful to reality,
b ut som etim es I present it in a certain light, which modifies it, poeticizes
it, tints it w ith fantasy. 157 Many of the younger w riters with whom
Degas now cam e in contact were Sym bolists who rejected the positivism
of the preceding period, am ong them M allarm , Valry, M irbeau, Ca
mille M auclair, and Proust. E xcept for M allarm, w ho becam e p rom inent
only at this time, all of them were a generation younger th an Degas and
on the whole less intim ately acquainted with him than the N aturalists
had been. Moreover, their relations w ith him were largely one-sided:
while they adm ired his suprem ely intellectual a rt and intransigent p er
sonality, he professed not to u n d erstan d or appreciate their writings,
clinging instead to his R om antic tastes and N aturalist theories.
Surprisingly, he did respond positively to E douard D ujardins Sym
bolist play Antonia w hen it was perform ed in 1891, but this was probably
for its R om antic setting and them e of m elancholy love, ra th e r than for
189
its highly contrived rh y th m ic p ro se .158 N or is th ere an y evidence of his

in terest in the novels an d p o em s of Gide, at th a t tim e an im p o rta n t figure
in th e Sym bolist m o v em en t an d one w ith w hom he w as alread y ac
q uainted, although for his p a rt Gide rep eated ly expressed a d m iratio n
for his a rt and even fo u n d his reactio n ary ideas co n g en ia l.159 Degas
seem s in fact to have h ad m ore in co m m o n w ith th e P arn assian poets
o f the p receding g eneration: w hen he began to com pose so n n ets in the
late 1880s, he tu rn e d at once to B anvilles Treatise on Versification, and
d edicated the first o f th em to H eredia, w hose m astery o f th a t form w as
one of his sources of insp iratio n , ju s t as, a decade earlier, h e h a d re
ceived th e d edicatio n of one of C harles C ross lap id ary p o e m s.160
N othing reveals m o re clearly the fu n d am en tal differences betw een
Degas an d the Sym bolist w riters th a n his p ro b lem atic relatio n sh ip w ith
M allarm , the one w ho w as p e rh a p s th e m ost sy m p ath etic to him p e r
sonally, sharing his deep in terest in art an d his frien d sh ip w ith th e o th er
Im pressionists, particu larly th o se in th e circle o f B erthe M orisot. H e h ad
w ritten very perceptively a b o u t D egas's art, a n d in a m a n n e r th at su g
gests they w ere already acq u ain ted , as early as 1876: "A m a ste r of
draw ing, he h as so u g h t delicate lines an d m ovem ents exquisite o r g ro
tesque, an d of a stran g e new b eauty, if I d a re em ploy to w ard s his w orks
an ab stra c t term , w hich he him self will never em ploy in his daily co n
v ersatio n . 161 And Degas, w ho w as evidently attra c ted by th e p o e ts
gentle, th o u g h tfu l m an n er, c reated an im age of him th a t Valry co n
sidered "th e finest likeness of M allarm I have ever se e n a p h o to g rap h
[132], taken in 1895, th a t show s him lean in g ag ainst a wall n e a r a m irror,
w ith R enoir sittin g on a sofa beside him a n d M allarm s wife and
d aughter, as well as Degas h im self a t th e cam era, ap p earin g as ghostly
reflections in the m irro r.162
Yet w hen M allarm re a d his m oving trib u te to Villiers de llsle-A dam
in M orisots studio, Degas, alone am o n g th e d istin g u ish ed com pany,
claim ed not to u n d e rsta n d a w o rd an d left a b ru p tly b efore th e read in g
h ad ended. H enri de Rgnier, w ho tells th e story, ad d s th a t "D egass
favorite a u th o r w as B rillal-Savarin; he u sed to have th e Physiology o f
Taste re a d to h im . 163 Several incid en ts of D egass stu b b o rn refusal to
c o m p reh en d the p o e ts w ork, even w hen a sy m p ath etic read in g w ould
have p en etrated som e o f its ad m itted o bscurities, are also rep o rted by
132.
Degas, Renoir and
Mallarm in Berthe
Morisots Salon, 1895.
Photograph.
New York, gift of Mrs. Henry
T. Curtiss, 65.500.1
V alry.164 F u rth erm o re, on tw o o ccasio n sonce in 1888-1889, w hen
M allarm p lan n ed an illu strated ed itio n of his p rose poem s, a n d again
a decade later, w hen his d a u g h te r p lan n e d a p o sth u m o u s edition of his
p o etry Degas agreed to provide a draw in g an d then d eclin ed .165 F or the
earlier publication, th e d raw ing w as p resu m ab ly to re p resen t a ballet
dancer, to illu strate the p rose poem B allets ; yet d esp ite th eir sim ilarity
of subject, the tw o w orks w ould inevitably have differed in conception,
and in a w ay th a t illum inates a basic dilference betw een th e p a in te r a n d
the poet. In c o n tra st to th e p ow erful realism of D egass form s, w hich,
even in this relatively subjective p h ase of his developm ent, w ere ulti
m ately based on visual experience, M allarm s su b tle m ed itatio n on the
m ean in g o f th e d ance, w ith its p arad o x ical thesis, th a t the ballerin a
is not a girl dancing; th at, co nsidering th e ju x tap o sitio n of those group
m otifs, she is n o t a girl, b u t ra th e r a m e ta p h o r . . . , an d th a t she does
not dance, b u t ra th e r suggests things. . . , w as b o u n d to seem o bscure
an d a rb itra ry .166
N evertheless, Degas m u st have realized th e im p o rtan ce of M allarm s
191
achievem ent, for w hen he becam e tem p o rarily obsessed w ith w riting
p oetry him self, it w as to him th a t he tu rn e d fo r advice after read in g
B anvilles Treatise. And th e poet, alth o u g h fearfu l th a t this new in terest
w ould fu rth er delay delivery of the p rom ised draw ing, w as sym p ath etic
and encouraging: "In reality, he is no longer of th is w o rld , he confided
to M orisot. "O ne is p e rtu rb e d before his obsession w ith a new art, in
w hich he is, I m u st say, q u ite p roficient. 167 Yet th ere w as a p ro fo u n d
difference betw een th e tw o m en here, too, as is ev iden t from their
exchange on one of th e occasions w hen Degas so u g h t M allarm s advice.
L am enting his inability to co m p lete a certain sonnet, he rem ark ed , And
all th e sam e, it isn t ideas I m sh o rt o f . . . I m full of th em . . . I ve got
too m any , to w hich the o th er replied, "B ut, Degas, you c a n 't m ake a
poem w ith ideas . . . You m ake it w ith w ords.16* It seem s ironic, yet
also ch aracteristic of D egass relatio n to Sym bolist literatu re, th a t he
failed to grasp the significance of this d istin ctio n in co m posing his poem s
o r in judging those o f M allarm an d others, th o u g h it coincided w ith
one he him self often stated in affirm ing th e essentially subjective n atu re
of his art, w hich in d eed h a d b ecom e increasingly evident in this final
p eriod. As Valry observes, Degas saying th at d raw ing w as a w ay o f
seeing form , M allarm teaching th a t poetry is m ade w ith words, w ere
sum m ing up, each for his ow n craft, a [fu n d am en tal] tru th . 169
In th e fo rm atio n of Valrys ow n conception of art, M allarm an d
Degas w ere, for all th eir differences, clearly th e tw o g reatest influences,
the latter as m uch th ro u g h th e force o f his p erso n ality as th ro u g h his
pictures. W hat Valry ad m ired above all w as his intellectual rig o r an d
m oral probity, his relentless search for perfectio n an d indifference to
m aterial success, his ideal o f a rt as a series o f difficult pro b lem s an d
o f th e a rtists life as a d edicated effort to solve th e m q ualities th a t Valry
h ad already begun to ch erish before he m et Degas in th e w inter of
1893-1894 in the h o m e o f E rn e st R o u a rt.170 "K now ing Degas is very
p recious [to m e], he w rote to Gide a few years later. T his m a n pleases
m e infinitely, as m u ch as his painting. H e looks so intelligent! 171 Even
b efore th ey b ecam e acq u ain ted , Valry h a d form ed an im age of Degas
from th e p ictures h e h ad seen a n d th e an ecd o tes he h ad h eard . The
idea I h ad form ed o f D egas, he later recalled, "w as o f a ch a ra cte r
red u ced to the strict lines of a h a rd draw ing. . . . A certain brutality,
o f intellectual origin, w ould be th e d o m in atin g tra it. 172
192
This im age, its o utlines partly stren g th en ed by co n tac t w ith th e real

Degas, w as evidently in Valrys m in d w hen, in th e su m m er of 1894, he
w'rote "An E vening w ith M onsieur Teste, the first of several puzzling
a n d difficult pieceshe him self d escrib ed them variously as p o rtraits,
stories, an d episodes in a novelin w hich the perso n ality an d th o u g h t
of this ex trao rd in ary c h a ra c te r c o n stitu te the sole interest. M onsieur
Teste, it is true, resem bles Degas n eith e r physically n o r psychologically,
and is at least as m u ch in sp ired by M allarm and, oddly enough, by
the detective A uguste D upin in Poe's Tales o f M ystery a n d Im agination;
b u t he reflects nevertheless th a t n o tio n of D egass intellectual discipline
and m oral u p rig h tn ess w hich Valry h ad already fo rm e d .173 Indeed, he
later ad m itte d th a t M onsieur T este h ad been m ore o r less influenced,
as people say, by th e kind of Degas w hom I h ad im ag in ed . 174
C onsequently, we m ay also w o n d er w h eth er D egass art, w hich Valry
knew th ro u g h th e great exam ples in R o u a rt's collection, th ro u g h ex hibi
tions at D u ran d -R u els gallery, and even th rough p h o to g rap h s he p u r
chased, play ed a role in th e creatio n o f this w o rk .175 Its central section,
the m ost concrete a n d "v isu al of the three, is after all set at th e O pera,
and although it does n o t describe a p erfo rm an ce in any detailon th e
contrary, M onsieur Teste d eliberately tu rn s his b ack on the stage in o rd er
to enjoy the spectacle of the au d ien ceit does p o rtray him in a m a n n e r
rem iniscen t of certain p o rtra its by Degas. B ehind th e d escrip tio n of
Teste, stan d in g beside th e golden colum n a t th e O pera, . . . his d ark
figure splash ed w ith light, th e sh ap e of the w hole clothed block of him
p ro p p ed ag ain st th e heavy co lu m n , 176 th ere m ay well lie a p o rtra it like
the one discussed earlier of H alvy and Cav stan d in g in th e w ings of
th e O pera [128], w here th e figure is likewise seen as a strikingly dark
silhouette, its su rface enlivened by reflected lights, its form d eliberately
co m p ared w ith a vertical a rch itectu ral form b ehind it.
H ence it seem ed alto g eth er ap p ro p ria te fo r Valry to think of d ed i
cating "An E vening w ith M onsieur Teste to D egas; b u t w hen, too tim id
to ask for perm ission, he h ad one of th e R o u arts do so, the alm ost
p redictable an sw er w as a b ru sq u e No: I w ould ra th e r n o t have so m e
th in g d edicated to m e th a t I w o n t u n d ersta n d . I have h ad enough of
poets. . . . 177 In retro sp ect, D egass refu sal seem s all the m ore ironic
in th a t Valry la te r w rote a m o st ch arm in g an d p erceptive m em oir,
The Artist a n d the Writer
193
entitled Degas Dance Drawing, w hich is in effect d ed icated to him . A

m editation on th e n a tu re of a rt an d artists, it is in sp ired by the very
qualities in D egass th o u g h t a n d p ersonality th a t h ad originally inspired
the invention of M onsieur Teste. Its conception is actually co n tem p o rary
w ith th e latter, Valry having in fo rm ed G ide as early as 1898, I shall
w rite (about Degas, n o t identified m ore clearly) M onsieur D. or Paint
ing." 178 Like M onsieur Teste itself, how ever, Degas Dance D rawing
ow es m uch to th e parallel exam ple o f M allarm an d is also a vehicle
for the expression of Valry's ow n aesth etic th ought, to w hich he so m e
tim es a d ap ts th a t of Degas.
A lthough, as Valry an d a few o th er close friends realized, th ere w as
in Degas a h u m an ity b en eath th e in h u m a n face h e insisted on p re se n t
ing to th e w orld, 179 it w as the latte r alone th a t m o st of his acq u ain tan ces
saw an d th a t th e w riters am o n g th em seized o n in th e ir fictional p o rtraits
of him . A decade before Valry tra n sfo rm e d th a t side o f Degas into an
intellectual im age o f M onsieur Teste, it h ad already a p p e a re d in a m ore
exaggerated form in a n o th er c h aracter, th e a rtist L irat in O ctave Mirb e a u s novel Calvary (1886). An influential critic as well as a novelist,
M irbeau knew m an y o f the leading artists of his day, in cluding M onet,
G auguin, an d R odin, w hose w ork he ch am p io n ed in his w idely rea d
new sp ap er colum ns. A ccording to th e d ealer A m broise V ollard, w ho tells
a curious story o f an en c o u n te r betw een M irbeau a n d Degas, he w as
also well acq u ain te d w ith the latter, alth o u g h he seem s to have w ritten
very little a b o u t h im .180 In Calvary, how ever, th e violent pessim ism of
M irbeaus vision d isto rts th e ch aracterizatio n of L irat to th e p o in t w here
it becom es as m u ch a c aricatu re o f th e m isan th ro p ic traits in D egas's
personality as a trib u te to th e in d ep en d e n ce an d originality o f his art.
For if M irbeau w as as a critic responsive bo th to th e Im p ressio n ism of
M onet and the S ym bolism of G auguin, he w as as a novelist far closer
to the D ecadents in his obsession w ith th e p erversity a n d cruelty of
m o d ern life, as is evident in th a t su p rem ely D ecadent w ork, The Garden
o f 'Tortures (1899).
T hus it w as above all the legend of D egass antisocial b eh av io r th a t
M irbeau fastened on, using it as a m odel for th e alien ated an d em b ittered
a rtist he w anted to p o rtra y in Calvary.m Like Degas, at least according
to this legend, Jo sep h L irat h a d th e re p u tatio n of being a m isan th ro p e,
194
u nsociable a n d spiteful. . . . H e w as so severe, so relentless to everybody;

he knew so well how to discover, to reveal the ridiculous side in artists,
. . . an d to ch aracterize them by som e ap t rem ark, u n fo rg etta b le an d
fiercean obvious allusion to D egass m alicious sayingsth a t even
young M inti, w ho ad m ired him , trem b led in his p resen c e.182 And like
Degas, he h ad an equally au stere artistic ideal, so th a t u ltim ately he
h ad decided no t to exhibit any m ore, saying: 'O ne w orks for oneself,
for tw o o r three living friends, and for o th ers w hom one h as never know n
and w ho are d e a d , 183 a notion o f him self in relation to p a st a n d p resen t
a rt w hich co rresp o n d s closely to th a t of Degas.
If in Calvary it w as th e a rtists c h a ra c te r th at resem bled D egass, in
The L over o f Dancers, a slightly later, D ecadent novel by Flicien
C ham psau r, it w as the c h arac te r of his art. The p ro ta g o n ists nam e,
G eorges Decroix, recalls D elacroixs (allow ing one w it to observe, To
resem ble D elacroix, he lacks only the 'la '), bu t it also recalls D egass ; 184
an d as we have seen, he h im self h ad co m p ared his n am e w ith D elacroixs
m ore th a n once. In ap p e a ra n c e an d beh av io r Decroix, w ho has led a
life of excess in all sectors of P arisian society, is alto g eth er unlike Degas,
w hose existence seem ed to G auguin as orderly an d so b er as that of a
n o tary o r b ourgeois of th e July M o n arch y .185 A lthough C h am p sau r h ad
m et Degas in th e Im p ressio n ist circle w hen he began w riting art criticism
aro u n d 1880,186 he w as less in terested now in p o rtray in g him from life
th a n in creatin g an alter ego w hose ad v en tu res in th e dem i-m onde of
actresses a n d d an cers th a t he knew so well he could chronicle in detail.
N evertheless, the a rt o f Decroix, a p a in te r o f m o d e rn ity a n d p ain ter
of dancers," is b ased u n m istak ab ly on D egass and, even allow ing for
C h am p sau r's p re o ccu p atio n w ith th o se asp ects th a t d ep ict th e low er
d ep th s of P aris, sh ed s an interestin g light on how it w as seen in so p h is
ticated circles such as Les H y d ro p ath es in th e mid-1880s. "V isitors to
D ecroixs stu d io fo u n d in th is em in en tly P arisian p a in ter th e atm o sp h ere
of backstage scenes, of a c to rs an d a ctresses' dressin g room s; they felt,
in looking at his pictu res, a bit of th e titillation, of the p leasan t shivers,
of an u n n atu ral, strangely attractiv e existence. . . . 187 And as in D egas's
p ictures of the th eater, illusion an d reality w ere brilliantly co n traste d :
th e d an ce r w ho ap p e a rs on stage, "in the sp len d o r o f h er so m ew h at
artificial beauty, in h er glorification u n d e r electric lights, is also show n
backstage, b reath less w ith fatigue, h er featu res sagging, th e m uscles
195
of her calves and thighs bulging, the lines of her body graceless and
alm ost brutal. . . . 188 This fascination w ith the artificial also leads
Decroix, as it had Degas, to frequent the circus; in fact, his studies of
Lulu, a fem ale acrobat, w hom he finds astonishing, dum bfounding in
h er dangerous ju m p s and leaps, are clearly in debted to Degass painting
of Miss La La or to H uysm ans's description of it.189
Closer to the im age of Degas in Calvary, and likewise inspired by
stories th at had circulated in the art w orld of Paris ab o ut his artistic
genius and irascible behavior, is the p o rtrait of him as H u b ert Feuillery,
the painter of dancers, the great m isanthrope, adm ired for his art and
feared for his cruel sallies, in Camille M auclairs novel The City o f Light
(1903).190 Like Lirat, Feuillery is a ra th e r bizarre and hostile figure, a
creature of strange appearance, small, nervous, contracted . . . known
for his fierce and tragic rem arks, his sudden attacks, his diabolical
ironies. . . . 191 But unlike M irbeaus essentially D ecadent artist, he is
capable of noble sentim ents and actions, revealing at bottom an ex
quisite soul, always w ounded, an im m ense conflict w ithin him self, a
rebellious com passion, and a disgust w ith his epoch. 192 The last point
is significant, for Feuillery is clearly conceived as a sym bol of u ncom
prom ising integrity, in co n trast to the m aterialism and self-seeking that
m otivate the painters, dealers, and critics w hose m achinations in the
so-called city of light M auclair chronicles.
A Sym bolist poet in the circle of M allarm and an art critic for the
Sym bolist m agazine Mercure de France, he quite naturally adopted an
idealist position in condem ning th e cynicism of the contem porary art
w orld and in exalting a selfless dedication to art, even w hen it was
accom panied by personal eccentricities, as in the case of D egas.193
W hereas his colleagues actively seek publicity, Feuillery goes so far as
to bribe one critic w ith a draw ing to obtain in exchange th a t you will
publish nothing ab o u t m e. 194 In his art-historical essays, too, M auclair
adm ired in Degas a m an w orthy of great respect for the noble integrity
of his life, his indifference to fam e, his work, and his discreet pride. 195
Ironically, how ever, he w as hostile to alm ost all the o th er original artists
of his day, sarcastically rejecting Pissarro an d G uillaum in, as well as
Czanne, G auguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec, so th a t the idealism of The
City o f Light seem s in retrospect ra th e r false.
So vivid was the im pression Degas m ade on his contem poraries to
196
w ard the end of his life th a t its influence is still felt in tw o novels
pu b lish ed after his d eath: Aymeris, a fictional au to b io g rap h y of th e
p a in ter a n d w riter Jacq u es-E m ile B lanche, a n d The Cities o f the Plain,
the fo u rth volum e of P ro u sts g reat w ork, R em em brance o f Things Past.
By coincidence, b o th novels ap p e a re d in 1922, alth o u g h they w ere largely
w ritten before the F irst W orld W ar an d w ere p re p a re d even earlier, in
th a t fn-de-siecle P arisian society w'here th e ir a u th o rs w ere a c q u ain ted
w ith each o th e r as w'ell as w ith Degas. In fact, w hen B lanche p u b lish ed
th e first volum e of his essays on art, one of w hich is a valuable m em oir
of Degas, P roust co n trib u te d a long p reface evoking th eir youthful
friendship a n d in terest in p a in tin g .196
In Aymeris, Degas ap p e a rs in his ow n guise, b u t his b ehavior is as
eccentric and antisocial as it is in Calvary an d The City o f Light, w here
he ap p ears in a fictional guise. Like B lanche him self, G eorges Aymeris
is a young art stu d e n t in the early 1880s w ho hears a b o u t "th e curious
pictu res o f the th e a te r by a certain D egas an d determ ines to m ake his
a c q u a in ta n c e .197 U n fortunately, th e latter "does not w an t to see anyone,
especially young people, w hom he despises a n d considers stu p id , an d
in stead G eorges visits the conservative p ain te r W illiam B ouguereau,
who, he discovers, "h as a m a n n e r as fierce as th a t o f M. D egas. 198 W hen
he finally gains access to this a rtists studio, he is showrn "a th o u san d
draw ings, pastels, of race horses, of d a n c e rs, an d m o re surprisingly all
his early u'orks, his Young S p artans Games, his Sem iram is.199 B ut w hen
he retu rn s a n o th e r day, h e is rebuffed brusquely: You again? Please
leave m e alone, I m w o rking. 200 The ex ten t to w hich this p o rtra it of
Degas differs from the m ore attractiv e one in B lan ch es m em oirs show s
how m uch he h ad already b ecom e identified as th e type of m isan th ro p ic
artist aro u n d 1885. F or as B lanche recalled, he w as "in th e m o st com plete
intim acy with us. . . . H e w as like a resp ected , ch erish ed uncle for m y
wife a n d h e r sisters, th e p rotective deity o f o u r h o m e. 201 M oreover, it
w as precisely in 1885, d u rin g a su m m e r holiday a t D ieppe, th a t Degas,
far from d esp isin g his yo u n g er colleagues, p o rtray ed th ree of th e m
H enri Gervex, W alter Sickert, a n d B lanche h im se lf-to g e th e r w ith three
neig h b o rsL udovic and Daniel H alvy an d B oulanger-C avin a re
m ark ab le com p o sitio n [133], w hose b rilliant design does n o t conceal his
sy m pathetic u n d e rsta n d in g of th e ir diverse p erso n alities.202
197
133.
Degas, Six Friends at
Dieppe, 1885. Pastel.
M useum of Art, R h o d e
Islan d School o f Design,
Providence
198
In The Cities o f the Plain, too, Degas ap p ears u n d e r his ow n nam e,

b u t som e of th e fictional p a in te r E lstirs traits m ay also have been
inspired by P ro u sts acq u ain ta n c e w ith him an d w ith his w ork. A class
m ate of Daniel H alvy an d an in tim ate friend of M m e S trau s an d of
B lanche, all of w hom w ere well know n to Degas, P roust w ould have
h ad m any o p p o rtu n ities to m eet h im in th e early 1890s, an d w ould surely
have ap p reciated his stro n g perso n ality an d p e n etratin g rem arks. How
well he knew D egass a rt is m ore difficult to d eterm ine: his ow n sta te
m ent, in a letter to B lanche in 1919, th a t Czanne, Degas, an d R enoir
are the p ain ters I u n d e rsta n d least an d th e ones w hose w orks I w ould
have been m o st eag er to see, 203 ca n n o t be taken literally, since he h ad
u n d o u b ted ly seen m an y of those w orks in the exhibitions organized by
D urand-R uel, in th e publicatio n s th a t had pro liferated by 1914, an d in
th e collections of friends su ch as the P rince de W agram and B lanche
him self.204 Som e w riters have th erefo re m ain tain ed th a t he m u st have
stu d ied D egass tricks of com position an d taste for novel perspectives;
th at is surely w hat E lstirs a rt m akes one think of, an d th a t them atically,
too, his "p ictu res giving in tim ate glim pses of w om en at th e ir daily tasks
bring definitely to m in d th e w ork of D egas.205 But th e general opinion
is th at Elstir, a com posite figure rep resen tin g the type o f th e m o d ern
painter, is b ased p rim arily on M anet, M onet, W histler, an d T urner, with
w hose a rt P ro u st w as b e tte r acq u ain ted , and above all on P aul H elleu,
w hose life an d w ork resem b le E lstirs in m an y resp ects a n d w hom the
au th o r him self rep o rted ly ad d ressed as su c h .206
M ore rew ard in g are th e explicit referen ces to Degas in The Cities o f
the Plain. Two o f th e m are alm o st iden tical in fo rm an d seem ingly
conventional in co n ten t: a ballet d an c er kep t by a w ealthy m a n is d e
scribed as a d an c e r in this case of a d istinct an d special type, w hich
still aw aits its D egas, an d again, a little fu rth e r on, as a d an cin g girl
o f a n o th e r kind, w hich still lacks a D egas.207 B ut th e curious repetition
of the form ula, an d its real fu n ctio n as a m e ta p h o r fo r a kept boy ra th e r
th a n a girl, m ak e one w o n d er how m u ch P ro u st h a d guessed o r h e ard
ru m o red a b o u t D egass fascination w ith sexually am b ig u o u s subjects.
The th ird referen ce to him occu rs in a d eb ate o n the m erits of Poussin
and is o f a n o th e r o rd e r entirely. W hen M m e de C am brem er, a lady of
ra th e r precious taste, affects to find P oussin an old hack w ith o u t a
199
vestige of t a l e n t . . . th e d ead liest of bores," S w ann cleverly replies: M.

Degas assures us th at he know s n o th in g m o re beau tifu l than th e P o u s
sins at C hantilly, a n d M m e de C am brem er, w ho h ad no w ish to differ
from D egas, begins a t once to revise h e r o p in io n .208 A lthough p u b lish ed
m u ch later, this in cid en t u n d o u b ted ly reflects the legend of D egass
ad m iratio n for P oussin th a t h ad been c u rren t in the 1890s, w hen Proust
w ould have know n him . B oth Ju liu s M eier-G raefe an d G eorge M oore
com m ent on the fam e of his copy afte r The R ape o f the Sabines, the
la tte r preten d in g it is as fine as the o riginal.209 And a friend o f G ides
indicates the reactio n ary basis of this ad m iratio n in w riting to Degas:
W hat I like ab o u t you is th a t you do n o t like th e Jew s a n d th a t you
read La Libre Parole a n d th at, like m e, you co n sid er P oussin a great
French p ain ter. 210
Clearly the situ atio n h ad ch an g ed in th e tw enty-five years since
D urantys story The P ain ter Louis M arlin w as p u b lish ed an d the fact
th a t Degas, an artist o f ra re intelligence, p reo ccu p ied w ith ideas, had
copied a Poussin p ain tin g in th e L ouvre very successfully w as first m ade
k n o w n .211 By th e tim e P ro u st knew him , and even m o re by th e tim e
The Cities o f the Plain ap p eared , D egass essentially intellectual ap p ro ach
to art, like his veneration of P oussin, h ad becom e th e basis for another,
m u ch n arro w er cult, d o m in ated by n ationalism an d a d o ctrin aire classi
cism.
My Genre Painting
JL h e m ost in terestin g exam ple o f D egass co n ta c t w ith the literatu re
o f his tim e has also been the m o st w idely ad m ired of his early w orks,
the Interior now in the H enry P. M cllhenny Collection [134].' Georges
G rappe, th e first critic to d iscuss it, w as convinced it w as the artist's
greatest achievem ent, am ong his m asterpieces, the m asterp iece, an d
alone w ould assu re his fam e: All his p astels an d all his o th er canvases
could be engulfed by a cataclysm ; if it survived, it w ould estab lish his
n am e for the p resen t an d the fu tu re . 2 A rsne A lexandre, a n o th e r early
critic, w en t even fu rth e r to declare it th e g reatest ach iev em en t of any
m o d ern artist: T here is not in th e w hole of m o d ern p ain tin g a w ork
m ore striking, m ore austere, a n d o f a loftier m orality, co m p ared to
w hich R o u sseau s Confessions is m erely a highflow n p la titu d e ."3 F or
all that, how ever, it rem ain s th e m ost puzzling of D egass m a jo r w orks,
a p ictu re full o f m ystery an d one still sh ro u d ed in m ystery as far as
in terp re tatio n is concerned, h aving inspired th e m o st contradictory'
statem en ts a b o u t its m eaning, its literary source, its place in his oeuvre,
an d even its title.4 M oreover, a p reo ccu p atio n w ith th ese issues has
diverted atten tio n from o th ers of a m ore g eneral significanceits rela
tion to his ideas on p h ysiognom ic expression, his in terest in artificial
illum ination, an d his co n tacts with co n tem p o rary art in E ngland as well
as France. It is to all these aspects o f Interior, and to th e illum inating
com m en ts m ad e on it at the tim e by a n o th e r artist, th a t this c h a p te r
is addressed .
S everal w riters w ho knew Degas personally, inclu d in g P.-A. L em oisne,
and P aul L afond as well as G rappe, have a sserted th a t originally the

200
201
134. Degas, Interior (The Rape), 1868-1869. Oil on canvas.
Collection of Henry P. Mcllhenny, Philadelphia
p icture w as called The Rape an d th a t this d escribed its co n ten t p e r

fectly.5 "The su b jec t w as defined precisely, w rote Paul Jam o t, "even
too precisely. The vaguer title now in use [Interior] c o rresp o n d s b etter
to th e spirit of th e p ictu re . 6 But several o th e r w riters, also closely
acq u ain ted w ith th e artist, have insisted th a t the latter title is the only
au th en tic one. H is y ounger colleague G eorges Jean n io t referred to a
very h an d so m e pictu re entitled Interior S c e n e th at h e w atch ed Degas
resto re ca. 1903;7 and acco rd in g to his oldest friend, H enri R ouart, he
202
him self called it either Interior or my genre painting.8 In fact, Paul

P oujaud, an o th er close friend, w ho saw the picture in Degass studio
in 1897 and rem em bered his rem ark, You know my genre painting,
w as so incensed by the m elodram atic term The Rape th at he later wrote:
That title is not from his lips. It m ust have been invented by a writer,
a critic.9 Curiously, how ever, Poujaud him self em ployed the titles The
Quarrel and The Dispute, which, although less em otionally charged, still
im ply a dram atic confrontation. Thus th e several titles used, alternating
as they do betw een im plications of violence and neutral genre, are as
am bivalent as the im age itself. Only a positive identification of its
literary source, if indeed one exists, w ould clarify this uncertainty. Obvi
ously the picture does bring to m ind the kind of intim ate scene in
m odern dress so often found in the N aturalist th eater and novel of
Degass day, and the possibility th a t it was directly inspired by such
a scene has often been raised. But here, too, there have been m any
conflicting statem ents, none of w hich has gained general acceptance.
It was Georges Rivire, a friend of R enoir and o th er Im pressionists,
w ho first suggested th at Interior, w hich was usually dated ca. 1874, was
m eant to illustrate D urantys novel The Struggle o f Franoise Duquesnoy,
published the year befo re.10 But since he felt th at Degas had too m uch
im agination and independence to constrain him self to follow an au th o r
in the usual m an n er of illustrators, Rivire did not attem pt to specify
a p articular episode in the novel, contenting him self w ith observing the
p robable appeal of its realistic style and July M onarchy setting. Despite
this vagueness, several later w riters, including Camille M auclair, Jean
Nepveu-Degas, and R. H. Wilenski, accepted the suggestion, the latter
even converting it into a statem ent of fact: Interior (The Rape) illus
trates a scene from D urantys novel The Struggle o f Franoise D uques
noy. n N either of the leading authorities on this author, however, was
as willing to accept it. After searching in vain for such a scene, one
of them concluded: It is h ard to see to w hich episode in the novel
this com position (which has also been called The Rape!) could be re
lated. 12 And the oth er extended this stricture to all of D urantys fiction:
D egass picture represents an em otional scene following an act of
violence th at we do not find in o u r au th o r. 13 This is bound to be o n es
im pression on reading Franoise Duquesnoy, for if th e m ood of silent
My Genre P ainting"
203
conflict betw een a h u sb a n d a n d w ife th a t p erv ad es it co rresp o n d s to

the m ood of D egass painting, no episode w ithin it is set o r n arrated
in sufficient detail to have been his p o in t o f d e p a rtu re .14
M ore recently, som e historian s have p ro p o sed th a t his literary source
w as an o th er co n tem p o rary novel, Z olas M adeleine Frat, p u blished
serially in L E vnem ent, a n e w sp ap er w idely read in D egass circle, in
the fall of 1868 an d issued in book form at th e en d o f the y e a r.15 In
the clim actic scene, set in a drear}' h otel room w here M adeleine an d h er
h u sb an d G uillaum e are sp en d in g the night to escap e th e fate they feel
closing aro u n d them , b o th th e m ood a n d certain physical d etails co rre
spo n d to those in D egass p icture, w here th e q u iet d esp a ir of the
w om an, the tense exasp eratio n o f th e m an are tru e to Z olas m eaning,
w hile th e ro u n d table an d the n arro w virginal b ed are actually m e n
tioned in the text. 16 M any o th e r elem ents, in clu d in g the relative p o si
tions of the tw o figures, co rresp o n d so poorly, how ever, th a t if Degas
did have M adeleine Frat in m ind, then, certainly, he h as ta k e n extensive
liberties w ith his text, . . . [since] Zola describes th e b ed ro o m in the
A uberge du G rand Cerf w ith g reat care a n d at every stage in th e action
ind icates the situatio n o f his ch aracters, [w hereas] Degas d isreg ard s this
detailed scenario at alm ost every p o in t. 17 And as for th e dram atic
version, Madeleine, w hich h as also been cited, this w as w ritten in 1865
b u t n o t p ro d u ced un til 1889.18
So strongly evocative of fiction or d ra m a is Interior, an d so ap p aren tly
relevant is M adeleine Frat in its m ood o f so m b er sexual conflict, its
vividly descriptive style, a n d even its date, w hich coincides w ith the
one ca. 1868-1870 now generally given for the picture, th a t w hen the
episode originally p ro p o se d could n o t be accep ted w ith o u t reservation,
oth ers w ere suggested in its place. To one w riter, the p ain tin g seem ed
closest to the terrib le night M adeleine an d h er h u sb a n d G uillaum e
sp en d up in th e b ed ro o m of th eir cottage n e a r V etheuil, w here they
atte m p t in vain to rec a p tu re the h ap p in ess they h ad know n th ere and
are in stead co n fro n ted by th eir trag ic fa te .19 H ere, too, how ever, there
are so m any discrep an cies in th e a p p e aran c e an d positio n s o f Z olas
figures, both of w hom are casually d ressed an d seated before th e fire,
a n d so little d escrip tio n of the ro o m itself, th a t th e pictu re can h ardly
be tak en as an illu stratio n o f th e passage in question. S ubsequently,
204
a n o th e r w riter p ro p o se d the episode in th e A uberge d u G ran d Cerf,

im m ediately p reced in g the one w e first considered, w here M adeleines
form er lover Jacq u es, "w ho is by stran g e coincidence spending the night
in this very hotel, steals in d u rin g h e r h u sb a n d s tem p o rary ab sence
and, rem ain in g n e a r th e d o o r read y to d ep art, while she cringes before
him helpless a n d asham ed, uncon scio u sly to rm en ts h er w ith m em ories
of their fo rm er loves, w hich h ad by even stran g er coincidence taken
place in this very ro o m . 20 But again there are too m any differences
betw een p ictu re a n d text, th o u g h the latter m ay well have b een a sec
o n d ary source, as w e shall see.
H ence it is n o t su rp risin g th a t still a n o th e r w riter, after reviewing
m ost of th e efforts to find a literary in sp iratio n in Interior, sensibly
concluded: "T he legend h as grow n u p th a t th e pain tin g w as suggested
by a novel; the p a rtic u la r novel suggested fails to su p p o rt this theory
an d so we h u n t for an o th e r an d m ore p ro b a b le source. B ut th ere is
no h ard evidence th at Degas looked for or n eed ed to look for literary
in sp ira tio n ."21 P erh ap s not; a n d h ere his w ell-know n aversion for the
literary in a rt a n d c o n tem p t for w riters w ho m ed d led in it com e to m ind.
As Valry observed, "[he] w ould alw ays profess som e u nspeakable,
sacred h o rro r of o u r craft, w henever it d a red to m eddle w ith his. H e
w as alw ays q u o tin g P ro u d h o n s co n tem p t for th e literary g entry. 22
N evertheless, Degas w as p ro b ab ly well a cq u ain ted w ith m ore w riters
th an any m ajo r artist of his day; an d th a t he could draw in sp iratio n
from them and on occasion follow th eir texts q uite closely is evident,
as we saw in C h ap ter IV, in the m o n o ty p es he m ad e to accom pany
L udovic H alvys The Cardinal Family an d th e sketches h e drew to
illustrate E d m o n d de G o n co u rts The Prostitute Elisa.23 H e had, of
course, begun his career by p ainting historical su b jects directly inspired
by an cien t a u th o rs such as H ero d o tu s an d P lutarch, as well as m odern
ones such as G au tier an d Vigny.24 In any event, w h e th e r o r n ot he
"needed to look fo r literary in sp ira tio n in conceiving Interior, it seem s
likely th a t he did find it, an d in a n o th e r novel by Zola.
L ate in 1867, a y ear before M adeleine Frat ap p eared , Zola p u blished
a sim ilar tale of violence a n d passion, Thrse Raquin. Issu ed serially
w ith th e ironic title A M arriage of L ove in th e August, S eptem ber,
and O ctober n u m b e rs of L A rtiste,25 it ap p e a re d in book form in D ecem
M y Genre P ainting
205
b er of th a t year. H ere, too, R ealism is of course forgotten, an d replaced

by a lurid Im pressio n ism w hich tra n sp o rts a th o ro u g h ly unlikely story
into a sphere of d ark p o etry . 26 In C h ap ter 21, a tu rn in g p o in t in the
grim narrative, Zola describes the w edding n ight of T hrse and her
lover L aurent, w ho have m u rd e re d h er first h u sb a n d an d w ailed over
a year to avoid aro u sin g suspicion, an d now begin to discover th a t th eir
to rm en ted consciences will no t only p rev en t any intim acy, bu t will
eventually drive th em to d esp air an d suicide. The c h ap te r begins as
follows:
Laurent carefully shut the door behind him, then stood leaning against it
for a moment looking into the room, ill at ease and embarrassed. A good
fire was blazing in the hearth, setting great patches of golden light dancing
on the ceiling and walls, illuminating the whole room with a bright and
flickering radiance, against w'hich the lamp on the table seemed but a feeble
glimmer. Mme Raquin [Thrses aunt] had wanted to make the room nice
and dainty and everything was gleaming white and scented, like a nest for
young and virginal love. She had taken a delight in decorating the bed with
some extra pieces of lace and filling the vases on the mantelpiece with big
bunches of roses. . . . Thrse was sitting on a low chair to the right of
the fireplace, her chin cupped in her hand, staring at the flames. She did
not look round when Laurent came in. Her lacy petticoat and bodice
showed up dead white in the light of the blazing fire. The bodice was
slipping down and part of her shoulder emerged pink, half hidden by a
tress of her black hair.27
In alm ost all re sp ec tsth e positio n s an d attitu d e s of th e tw o figures,
the fu rn itu re an d d eco ratio n o f th e room , even the d isto rted light an d
shadow cast upon the w allsth e scene Zola describes c o rresp o n d s so
closely to the one in In terio r th a t it m u st surely be considered D egass
principal literary source. H e has, it is true, o m itted som e featu res m en
tioned in th e text, su ch as th e w o m a n s starin g in to th e fire, th e long
black tresses on h e r shoulders, a n d th e b o u q u ets o f roses on th e m antel,
although the latter d o recur, w ith th e sam e ironic effect, in the delicate
floral w allpaper. H e h as also in tro d u ce d a n u m b e r o f details n o t specified
in th e text,28 such as th e sew ing box o n th e table, th e m a n s to p hat
on the com m ode, the w o m a n s cape an d sc arf on th e bed, a n d above
all h er corset lying on th e flo o r-p re c ise ly the d etails th a t en co u rag ed
earlier critics to see in th e p ictu re the a fte rm ath of a bourgeois g entle
206
m a n s violation of a w orking girl.29 The a p p aren t social d istin ctio n in

th eir dress is, how ever, b e tte r explained by Z ola's novel; fo r in th e
p receding c h a p te r he describes th e w edding costum e, including a high
an d stiff co llar, w hich L au ren t co n tin u es to w ear as he en ters the
bedroom , an d also in d icates th a t w hile th e latter rem ain ed o u tside w ith
th eir guests, T hrse "w as p rep arin g for th e night. 30 M oreover, som e
of the elem ents Degas has in tro d u c e d also have a purely form al origin,
as w e shall see presently.
C hronologically, too, Thrse R aquin coincides p erfectly w ith Interior,
the first com po sitio n al stu d y for w hich is on th e verso o f a business
d o cu m en t d a te d D ecem ber 25, 1867 [135].31 It is a ra p id sketch, w hich
om its m any of the details th a t in the p ain tin g seem , in G rap p e's phrase,
so "hallucinatingly real, yet w hich fo r th a t very reaso n com es even
closer to Z olas text; indeed, few o f th e discrep an cies w e have ju s t
noticed are seen in it. It is also possible, how ever, th a t Degas relied on
the serial p u b licatio n in L A rtiste, since the passage in q u estio n ap p eared
in a particu larly co n sp icu o u s place, at th e beginning o f th e final in stall
m ent, an d differed fro m the definitive version only in insignificant
resp ects.32 The sam e scene also occurs in th e d ram atic version o f Thrse
Raquin, w hich, in view of th e strongly th eatrical effect of Interioras
one w riter observed, it is c o n stru cte d w ith the calculation of a set on
a stag e33is w orth considering. B ut this version w as first p ro d u c ed in
July 1873, a d ate th a t agrees less well w ith th a t o f D egass first sketch,
and the co rresp o n d in g scene is less vividly n arra te d : Thrse, left alone,
slowly re tu rn s to sit n e a r th e fire. A silence. L aurent, still in his w edding
costum e, e n ters softly, closes th e door, an d com es fo rw ard w ith an
uneasy look. 34 In any event, it is a w edding nig h t and n o t th e afte rm a th
of a rap e th a t Degas has rep resen ted , an d this gives ad d itio n al m eaning
to th e caustic re m a rk h e rep o rted ly m ad e u p o n learn in g th a t one of th e
tru stees of a m a jo r m u seu m , w orried a b o u t th e p ic tu re's su b je ct m atter,
h ad declined to reco m m en d its p u rch ase: But I w ould have fu rn ish ed
a m arriag e license w ith it. 35
Thrse R aquin is the m o st im p o rtan t, b u t p e rh ap s no t the only,
literary source for Interior; som e of its m o st co n sp icu o u s elem ents,
including several u n a c co u n ted fo r th u s far, m ay have been derived from
th e scene in M adeleine Frat th a t w as d iscu ssed previously as a possible
207
135.
Degas, Study for
Interior, ca. 1868.
Pencil.
Muse du Louvre,
Paris
source. Like th e w edding night scene in Thrse R aquin, th e one in the
A uberge du G rand C erf m ark s a tu rn in g p o in t in th e story; it is a tense
c o n fro n tatio n in w hich th e figures a re given essentially th e sam e roles,
the w om an vulnerab le an d th e m an dom ineering, a n d th e room itself
is described in th e sam e m aca b re detail, evoking th e h istory o f th eir
tragic love. H ence this scene could easily have b ecom e asso ciated w ith
the one from Thrse R aquin in D egass im agination. Specifically, he
seem s to have taken fro m it th e follow ing elem en ts:36 th e w o m a n s cloak
and scarf on th e b ed [M adeleine] rem oved h er h o o d ed cloak and the
silk scarf from h e r th ro a t ; th e floral p a tte rn of th e w allp ap e rth e
garlan d s of old-style flow ers w ith w hich it m u st once have b een strew n ;
th e red d ish brow n floor, once a stro n g e r red, as we shall seeth e room
w as paved w ith large tiles p ain ted a blood re d ; the ru g betw een the
bed a n d ta b le a piece o f carp e t u n d e r th e ro u n d ta b le ; and, sym boli
cally m o st significant of all, th e oddly n arro w bed w ith its eerily w hite
covera bed singularly n arro w for tw o p e o p le ,. . . a n arro w bed, a rch ed
in th e cen ter like a w hite to m b sto n e. In addition, th e w o m an in Interior
h as red d ish b ro w n hair, w hich resem b les M adeleines red h a ir far
m ore th a n T h rses tress of black h a ir. If Degas did derive these
elem ents from M adeleine Frat, w hich first ap p ea re d in L E tendard in
S ep tem b er an d O ctober 1868,37 h e m u st eith er have b egun th e pain tin g
136. Degas, Study for Interior, ca. 1868. Oil on canvas.

Private collection, London
137. Ultraviolet photograph of Figure 136

at th a t tim e or, w h at seem s m ore likely in view of the com po sition al
study d atab le shortly after D ecem ber 1867, have in co rp o rated them into
th e p ictu re after it h ad been begun.
of Z olas novels helps explain w hy th e m ost im pressive study
for Interior, an oil sketch form erly in th e N o rto n Sim on Collection
[136],38 show s, beside th e m an leaning ag ain st th e door, a w om an in
street costu m e w ho seem s a b o u t to e n ter the room th ro u g h a n o th e r
N e it h e r
opening. A ccording to one w riter, this sketch is m ysterious in its space,

its illum ination an d its m eaning, but, taken in c o n ju n ctio n w ith the final
version, it does suggest an im precise p u rp o se; it is as th o u g h the artist
w as looking for a solution, a solution w hich w as, th erefo re o f his own
m ak in g . 39 T h at th e p ictu re is a u th en tic an d alread y co n tain ed the
w om an in street co stu m e at the tim e o f D egass d eath is evident from
"My Genre Painting'
209
its ap p earan ce in the catalogue of the sale of his studio, alth o u g h at

th a t tim e there w ere strip s of u n p a in te d canvas at th e botto m an d the
left side, w hich have since been rem oved.40 They, of course, suggest th a t
he h ad once in ten d e d to e x p an d th e com position, as he so o ften did
by adding strips o f canvas o r p ap er, a n d in th a t case the w o m an s role
m ight well have beco m e m o re com p reh en sib le. B ut they also suggest
th a t she h ad in th e first place been a d d e d to a stu d y o f th e m an alone,
an d this is confirm ed n o t only by th e o d d m a n n e r in w hich she is fitted
into the sm all sp ace rem ain in g beside him , b u t by the far m o re tentative
and u n su b stan tial w ay in w hich she is p ain ted . It is in fact obvious in
u ltraviolet an d in frared p h o to g ra p h s [e.g. 137] th a t th e w o m a n s figure
is thinly executed an d lacks th e firm stru c tu ra l m odeling of th e m a n s;
the m eaningless stro k e of light pig m en t on h er chin is p e rh a p s the m ost
telling ind ication.41 At th a t tim e, too, th e rig h t side o f th e b ack g ro u n d
w as evidently rep ain ted , since its c o n to u r im pinges slightly on th e m an 's,
a n d his figure does n o t cast o n it th e pow erful sh ad o w th a t it casts in
every o th e r study. M oreover, the earliest co m positional sketch [135]
show s th a t D egass conception w as in all essential resp ects clear from
the very beginning; an d th a t it rem ain ed u n altered is a p p a re n t from the
m any su b seq u en t studies.
W hat these stud ies reveal is the p o w er o f his im agination, as it seeks
to visualize in increasin g d etail the ap p e a ra n c e of a scene th a t is vividly
b u t incom pletely describ ed in Z ola's text. It is significant of th e im p o r
ta n t role th e settin g itself plays th at th e first of them , in a no teb o o k used
in 1867-1874 [138],42 c o n cen trates entirely on th e fireplace, th e m irro r
above it, the ch air an d tab le before it, an d above all th e striking p a tte rn s
138.
Degas, Study for Interior, ca.
1868. Pcncil.
210
139. Degas, Study for Interior, ca. 1868. Pencil.

of light an d shadow cast by the lam p, w hile th e m a n s figure is m erely
outlined at the right. A nother draw ing, on a so m ew h at larg er scale
[139],43 is d evoted solely to th e bed a n d th e p ictu res han g in g above it,
rep resen tin g them h alf in p recise detail, half in m ysterious shadow , as
they will a p p e a r in th e painting. The rem ain in g stu d ies are of th e tw o
figures, especially th a t o f th e m an, w hose u n u su al p o stu re, o utw ardly
n o n ch ala n t yet inw ardly tense, Degas evidently took g reat pain s to define
precisely.
In th e first o f these, a sketch in th e n o teb o o k already u sed for th e
setting [140],44 th e m a n s attitu d e m erely rep eats in fuller d etail th at in
the earliest com p o sitio n al study, w ith m arg in al notes specifying th a t his
collar a n d partly exposed rig h t cuff are to sta n d o u t as light accen ts from
"My Genre P ainting
211
the deep shadow in w hich he is engulfed. But in th e next draw ing, m ad e

on a larger sheet [141],45 his h ead is held m ore rigidly erect an d th e
w hole rig h t side o f his silh o u ette ru n s m o re stiffly from head to foot,
th u s no longer expressing th e ill a t ease an d em b arra sse d look m e n
tioned by Zola, b u t ra th e r th e h e b e tu d e m ingled w ith a trace o f b ru
tality noted by L em oisne a n d o th e r critics w ho took th e title The Rape
literally.46 S om ew hat m ore relaxed in m o o d is the oil sketch b ased on
this draw ing [142],47 p ro b ab ly becau se Degas co n cen trated h ere on the
p ictorial problem o f relatin g th e figure to the w all an d floor ad ja c e n t
to it, w orking w ithin a n arro w ran g e of beige, brow n, an d gray tones;
in any event, it rem ain s the least im pressive o f th e studies. By co n trast,
th e large p astel a n d gouache draw in g of th e h ead alone [143]48 is a
142. Degas, Study for Interior, ca. 1868. Oil on wood.
212
'
143.
Degas, Study for Interior, ca.
1868. Pastel.
pow erful in vestigation of the featu res an d the w ays in w hich they reveal
the m a n s conflicting feelings of un easin ess an d d esirea p o in t we shall
re tu rn to later, in co nsidering D egas's ideas on physiognom ic expression.
The cu lm in atio n of these stu d ies is, of course, th e su p erb ly p ain ted oil
sketch discu ssed previously [136]; h ere th e w edding co stu m e is ren d e red
in g reater detail, n o t exactly as in Z olas acco u n t, w hich specifies "his
black tro u sers an d coat a n d his w hite w aistco at, 49 b u t clearly u n d er
its influence.
The tw o stu d ies of the w om an, on the o th e r h an d , in d icate a change
th a t brings the im age closer to Z olas text. In th e first of these, a pencil
draw ing obviously m ade from a m odel [144],50 she is d ra p ed in a long,
flowing g arm en t o r sh eet th a t leaves h e r torso exposed to th e w aist. In
th e oil sketch th a t follow s this draw ing, b u t is once again m ad e from
life [145],51 she w ears a light chem ise an d h as a d a rk e r ro b e d ra p e d over
h er legs, resem b lin g m o re closely, th o u g h n o t exactly, the p e ttic o a t
and b o d ice m en tio n ed by Zola, w hile the chem ise slipping off h er
sh o u ld er does illu strate his phrase, h er bodice w as slipping dow n an d
M y Genre P ainting'
213
p a rt of h er sh o u ld er e m erg ed . Still an o th e r oil sketch, of a half-dressed

w om an stooping slightly an d h o ld in g som e clothing before h er in a
defensive m anner, h as o ften b een identified as a stu d y for th e sam e
figure.52 B ut a p a rt fro m h e r exposed condition, little a b o u t h er can be
related to the w om an in Interior, w hose alto g eth er different p o stu re was
already estab lish ed from th e beginning.
D e g a s s decision to base a m a jo r painting, n o t a series of m onotypes
or n o tebook draw ings, on a w ork of co n tem p o rary literatu re, su rp risin g

though it is in view o f his p ro fessed d isdain for th e literary in art,
becom es m ore intelligible w hen we co n sid er the context in w hich it was
m ad e and the special ap p eal o f Z olas narrativ e. S ince F eb ru ary 1866,
w hen Zola began to freq u en t the Caf G uerb o is,53 th e tw o m en h ad been

145. Degas, Study for Interior, ca. 1868. Oil on paper applied to canvas.
Collection of John S. Thacher, Washington,
d .c .
214
acq uainted . L ater th ere w as to be m u ch rivalry betw een th em an d som e

m u tu al con tem p t: as we saw in C h ap ter IV, Z olas com m ent, "H e is only
a co n stip ated [artist] of th e finest ta le n t, w as easily m atch ed by D egass,
H e gives m e th e im pression of a gian t studying a telep h o n e b o o k . 54
B ut at th e tim e th ere w as no evidence of this; on th e contrary, th e
novelists review o f th e 1868 S alon co n tain ed a co m p lim en tary re m a rk
a b o u t Mile Fiocre in the Ballet fro m La Source, an d th e p a in te r later
acknow ledged h aving rea d The D ram -Shop an d Nana, th o u g h he m ad e
no m ention of earlier w orks su ch as Thrse R a q u in .55 H ence th e p u b li
cation of th a t novel, w hich w as by far Z olas m o st am b itio u s d em o n
stratio n of N aturalism in literatu re, a c o u n terp a rt to the p am p h let o n
M anet he h ad p u b lish ed earlier in 1867,56 m u st have been d iscussed at
the Caf G uerbois an d have been fam iliar to Degas from th e beginning.
In addition, th e generally hostile critical resp o n se to Thrse Raquin,
above all in Louis U lb ach 's article, "P u trid L ite ra tu re , 57 m ade it at once
a cause clbre. The critics also seized on one featu re th a t w ould esp e
cially have ap p ealed to an artist, th e vividly pictorial c h a ra c te r o f Zola's
style. "T here are in Thrse R a q u in , w ro te G ustave Vapereau, paintings
th a t w ould be w o rth extractin g as sam ples o f th e m o st energetic and
th e m ost repulsive th at R ealism can p ro d u c e . 58 And U lbach him self
h ad to ad m it th a t one of these p ain tin g s w as the very one th a t h ad
attra c te d Degas: The night o f this h ideous w edding is a striking pic
tu re . 59 A re c e n t critic h as in fact observed th at, in keeping w ith th e
m elo d ram atic tone of Thrse R aquin, th e pictu res Zola p ain ts are
do m in ated by violent co n trasts o f light an d dark, w hich h ave a distinctly
sym bolic ro le;60 an d th e sam e is, o f course, tru e o f th e expressive use
of chiaro scu ro in Interior.
Z olas pictorial style w as in tu rn influenced by the artists in his circle
first of all by M anet, w hose Olympia w as evidently a so u rce fo r th e
brutally direct p o rtra y a l o f T hrse and the m o tif o f h er black c at,61 an d
above all by C zanne, w hose w ork at this tim e, like Z olas, w as filled
w ith im ages o f violence an d sensuality, p ain ted in a som ber, d ram atic
style. In Thrse R aquin itself, L a u ren t's o ccasional p ractice as a p a in te r
is m odeled on th a t o f Czanne, an d th e p ictu res he p roduces, in cluding
a series of p o rtra its th a t fatally resem b le each o ther, are clearly inspired
by th e early w orks of Z olas boyhood frien d .62 T h at Degas saw in one
M y Genre Painting'
215
of th e novels p rin cip al ch arac te rs a m o d ern artist, w h eth e r o r no t he

sen sed th e la tte rs relation to C ezanne, m ay well have been an o th e r
reason for his in terest in it. And th a t its o th er p ro tag o n ist is nam ed
T hrse, like one of his sisters, w ho h ad recently been m arried, m ay have
been still another. B ut it w as surely th e dep ictio n of a m arried yet utterly
estran g ed couple, d o o m ed to live to g eth er y et w ith o u t intim acy, th at
m oved Degas to illu strate Zolas tex t m ore th a n th eir n am es or p ro fes
sions. For in this im age he w o u ld h av e seen p ro je cte d pow erfully som e
o f his m o st d istu rb in g feelings a b o u t m arria g e and th e relatio n s of the
sexes.
A bout this scene an d those th a t follow it, a rece n t au th o rity h as stated:
I know of no c o u n te rp a rt in F ren ch literatu re to th ese fan tastic pages,
n o r of any w riter w ho h as so com pellingly evoked in c o m p arab le term s
the fear an d h o rro r th a t sex c an u n d o u b ted ly give rise to . 6- This is
essentially the sam e attitude, tho u g h usually ex p ressed in m ild er term s,
th a t has been a ttrib u te d to Degas, a m an w hose sarcastic co m m en ts
a b o u t w om en suggest th at he h ad closed dow n on his ducation senti
m entale after som e b itter experience, an d h a d allow ed passion to
w ith er, an d an artist from w hose p ictu res a bew ildering indifference
to th e grace of w om en em erges, a d isinclination to b ecom e involved with
them em otionally. 64 A lthough th e sight of a h appily m arrie d cou p lean
E nglish fam ily he m et in Italy in 1858, his b ro th e r R en s fam ily w hom
he visited in 1872m ade him long at tim es fo r a sim ilar existence,65 his
o th er experiences seem only to h av e rein fo rced th e in h ibitions an d fear
of involvem ent th a t eventually th ru st him into an e m b ittered solitude.
No one has d escrib ed it m ore p o ignantly th a n he him self, in a letter
w ritten w hen he w as fifty: F u n d am en tally , I d o n t have m u ch affection.
And w hat I once h a d h a sn t been in creased by fam ily a n d o th e r tro u b les;
I ve been left only w ith w h at c o u ld n t be tak en from m eno t m uch. . . .
T hus speaks a m a n w ho w an ts to finish his life a n d die all alone, w ith
no h app iness w h atev er. 66 Even at th e age o f thirty-five, at th e very tim e
he w as p ainting Interior, th e effect h e p ro d u ced o n one friend w as th a t
of an old bachelo r, e m b ittered by h id d en d isap p o in tm en ts, if n o t can
tan k ero u s, at least u n cx p an siv e, 67 an d a n o th e r d eclared flatly: H e
lacks spontaneity, h e is n t c ap ab le of loving a w om an, m u ch less of
telling h er th at he does o r of doing an ything a b o u t it. 68 Significantly,
216
th e first m arriage he h ad been able to observe closely in his m aturity,

his m o th er hav in g died w hen he w as young, w as th e singularly u n h ap p y
one o f an au n t a n d uncle w hom he p ortrayed in 1860, after spen d in g
several m o n th s in th eir hom e.
In The Bellelli Family [7],69 the physical d istan ce betw een th e h u sb a n d
an d wdfe already served, as it w ould later in Interior, to ex p ress the
em otional d istan ce betw een them , ju s t as th e differences in th e ir p o s
tu res served, as they w'ould later, to u n d ersc o re th e differences in their
roles. In the p o rtrait, it is th e reso lu te fem ale figui'e th at stan d s out
against a solid wall b roken only by a sharply defined picture, and th e
m ore recessive m ale figure th a t m erges w ith th e m ottled form s on the
m antel and in th e m irror, w h ereas in th e n arrativ e scene it is th e reverse;
yet th e sim ilarities betw een the tw o w orks, b oth com positional and
them atic, are unm istak ab le. So, too, are the resem b lan ces betw een
Interior an d fo u r o th e r p ictu re s of th e 1860s, tw o of th em set in m odern
P arisS u lkin g [83] a n d a n o th e r Interior Sceneand tw o in an cien t or
m edieval tim esThe Young Spartan Girls Provoking the Boys a n d The
M isfortunes o f the City o f Orleans.'70 As one w riter h as observed, In all
these p ictu res th e left is, so to speak, th e fem ale side to th e c an v asit
is se p arate d from th e rig h t by a cen tral elem ent, across w hich Degas
sets a unifying diagonal . . . [an d ] th e elem ent of hostility betw een the
sexes is a p p a re n t. 71 Particularly relev an t is th e so-called M isfortunes
[146], w'hich Degas exhibited in 1865, a few years b efo re p ain tin g Interior,
for here all th a t is intim ated as e stran g em en t o r tension in th e o th er
p ictures is exposed as aggression; m oreover, b etw een th e m o u n ted
soldiers at th e right a n d th e n ak ed w om en a t th e left, w hom they have
rap ed an d m u rd ered , there opens up a seem ingly u n trav ersib le void as
g reat as th at w hich se p arates the m an an d w om an in Interior.72 T hus
these are th e earliest exam ples o f the kind o f u n c o n v en tio n al co m p o si
tion, w ith figures crow ded to w ard th e edges a n d th e cen te r left v acan t
o r filled w ith in an im ate form s, th a t is so fam iliar an expression of
psychological alienation in D egass later w ork.
its perso n al an d n o d o u b t largely unco n scio u s m ean in g for
Degas, Interior d ep e n d s for its d ra m a tic p ictorial effect on theories of
W hatever
physiognom ic ex pression an d artificial illum ination th a t he form ulated
M y Genre P ainting
217
q u ite consciously in the very years w hen he p ain ted it. Indeed, n one
of his w orks illustrates m ore fully his th en recently developed ideas on
expression th an th e oil study of th e m an in it [136] an d the pastel study
of his head [143], T hese ideas a p p e a r in a notebook he used in 1868-1872,
in a passage that is often q u o ted yet never seriously d iscu ssed o r even
146. Degas, The Misfortunes o f the City o f Orleans, 1865. Oil on paper
applied to canvas.
correctly tran slated : M ake o f the tte d expression (in academ ic p a r

lance) a study of m o d ern feelings. It is L avater, bu t a L av ater m ore
relative, as it w ere, w ith accessory sym bols a t tim es. S tud y th e o b serv a
tions o f D elsarte on th e expressive m ovem ents of th e eye. Its b eauty
sh o u ld be only a certain phy sio g n o m y . 73 C haracteristically, Degas fo r
m ulates his ideas in term s of th ree o ld er theories o f expressive behavior,
d atin g from th e seventeenth, eighteenth, an d n in eteen th centuries.
The first of these is th e acad em ic tte d e xpression, a system o f clearly
distinguish ed types rep resen tin g the d ifferent em otions, first sta te d in
218
Le B ru n s Characteristics o f the E m otions (1696), th en p e rp e tu a te d in

exercises an d prize co m p etitio n s at the Ecole des Beaux-A rts.74 H ence
D egass p u n n in g reference, la te r in the sam e n o tebook passage, to th a t
u n fo rtu n a te tte d expression (Prix dbattre et rebattre), th e w ord prix
m ean in g b o th p rize, as in the titles of those com petitions, a n d p rice,
as in the idiom prix dbattre, o r "p rice to be n eg o tiated . 75 T h at he
ad d s the w ord rebattre, o r "h a m m e r again and again, suggesting the
futility of such an ap p ro ach , is h ard ly surprising, since his ow n am b itio n
is to tran sfo rm Le B ru n s excessive schem atization o f expression into
a m ore su b tle in stru m en t, ca p a b le o f ren d erin g the am b iv alen t feelings
o f m o d ern m an, su ch as the m ingled u neasiness and d esire of the m an
in Interior.
The second of th e o ld er th eo ries to w hich Degas refers, th a t o f L avater
on cranial a n d facial types an d th e ir sep arate featu res as revelations of
ch a ra c te r and personality, w as p u b lish ed as Physiognom ic Fragments
(1775-1778) an d rem ain ed especially p o p u la r in France, w here it w ent
into m any editions, including m ore th an one pocket L av ater th a t Degas
m ay have o w n ed .76 An im provem ent, in his view, over th e academ ic
notion of expression, it is n evertheless still too ab stract, its illustrations
of heads a n d featu res isolated against a n eutral g ro u n d req u irin g the
ad dition o f a setting an d accessories to m ake them m eaningful in the
m o d ern realistic sense. This is evident in th e im p o rtan ce he h im self
attach es to the m ilieu in p ictu res su ch as Interior. Curiously, how ever,
he q uotes in a n o th e r no teb o o k o f this p erio d G oethes co m m en t th at
L avater w as m erely a realist: ' Strictly speaking,' G oethe says so m e
w here, L av ater w as a realist an d only u n d ersto o d the ideal in its m oral
asp ect.77
C loser chronologically an d also in sp irit to D egas's ow n th eo ry is th e
th ird of those he m entions, th a t of F ranois D elsarte, a singer an d
p ro fesso r of m u sic an d declam ation, highly reg ard ed by m usician s and
artists alike, w hose C ourse on A esthetics (1839) tre a te d of th e ex p res
sive functions o f various a ttitu d es, p o stu res, a n d features, inclu d in g the
expressive m o v em en ts of the eye, to w hich Degas refers.78 Ignoring
m uch th a t is arb itra ry in these lectures, in w hich each o f th e functions
is reduced to a trip a rtite schem a, he evidently resp o n d s to D elsartes
em p h asis on th a t unity o f ex pression called a p h ysiognom y. It is in
M y Genre P ainting
219
fact ju s t such a m o v em en t of th e eye as th e one h e singles ou t th a t

d o m in ates th e expression of th e m an in Interior, one th a t led a later
w riter to exclaim : A b u rn in g sensu ality still sparkles in his lookoh!
th a t w hite, lum ino u s sp o t on th e p u p il! 79
D egass in terest a ro u n d 1868 in th eories of expressive behavior, like
his co n cu rren t decision to illu strate a re c e n t novel by Zola, u n d o u b ted ly
reflects the m any discussions am ong a rtists an d w riters at th e Caf
G uerbois in w hich he p a rticip ate d at th e tim e. Two years earlier, the
G oncourt b ro th ers h ad m ad e precisely the sam e distin ctio n betw een
expressiveness an d co nventional beauty, n o tin g in th e ir Journal th a t
th e beauty of th e an cien t face w as th e b eau ty o f its lines, w hereas
th e beauty of the m o d ern face is th e expression of its em o tio n . 80 And
in a long article On P hysiognom y, p u b lish e d in 1867, D uranty h ad
review ed the trad itio n al theories, in cluding L av aters, an d like Degas
h ad fo u n d them a b stra c t an d reductive, insufficiently g ro u n d ed in close
observ atio n of individuals in th e ir typical settings: At th e p resen t
m om ent, we are cleverer th a n Lavater, a n d he co u ld n o t co m p ete w ith
a co n tem p o rary nov elist.81 This conclusion, how ever, ig nored the influ
ence th a t L av aters th eo ries h ad ex erted on a w hole generation of
F ren ch w riters, in clu d in g G autier, G eorge S and, an d above all Balzac,
w hose novels are filled w ith c h aracterizatio n s directly in sp ired by them .
And m ore im p o rtan t, it ignored th eir influence on th e n ext g eneration
as well, particu larly on Zola, w ho w as la te r to m ake h e re d ita ry traits
the d eterm ining facto rs in perso n ality d evelopm ent, b u t w ho in early
w orks such as Thrse R aquin still p ro v id ed L av aterian d escrip
tio n s.82
Indeed, the p o rtra it of L aurent, in its in sistence on coarse, pow erful
features like those of a p e a sa n t o r an anim al, "his low fo reh ead su r
m o u n ted by a thick m o p of black h air, his full cheeks, . . . his broad,
sh o rt neck, thick a n d p o w erfu l, 83 is one o f th o se d escrip tio n s. It is,
of course, also the p o rtra it of a crim inal, w ho will u se this physical
force to m u rd e r his rival a n d su b d u e his m istress, a n d as su ch it p ro
vides a n o th e r link betw een th e p h ysiognom ic studies o f Zola an d Degas.
F or in 1881 Degas, too, p ain ted a crim in als physiognom y [147],84 a
d ram atic, close-up p o rtra it b ased on sketches he h ad evidently d raw n
in a police station o r co u rtro o m , b u t ch aracterized in term s o f the
220
147.
Degas, Physiog
nomy o f a Crimi
nal, 1881. Pastel.
Formerly collection
of Armand Dorville, Paris
cu rren t conception o f a crim inal physical type, h alf anim al o r savage

in a p p eara n c e an d displaying such atavistic traits as a sm all, receding
foreh ead an d chin, a droo p in g u p p er eyelid, a n d a w ildly irreg u lar h a ir
p attern . L avater, too, h ad d escrib ed such a type, b u t now D egas's in sp i
ratio n w as m ore likely th e recent publicatio n s of an th ro p o lo g ists such
as B ordier a n d crim inologists su ch as L om broso, the first edition of
w hose classic stu d y C rim inal M an ap p e a red in 1876.85
The close connection betw een Interior and D egass c u rre n t ideas on
art is also evident in th e extent to w hich it illu strates the notes h e m ad e
on artificial illum in atio n in th e very years in w hich he p ain ted it. T hey
occur in the sam e n o tebook as th e rem ark s on physiognom ic expression,
and are conceived in th e sam e a m b itio u s spirit: S tu d y n o c tu rn a l effects
a great deal, lam ps, candles, etc. The sm arte st th in g is n o t alw ays to
reveal the so u rce o f light, b u t th e effect of light. This are a of art can
becom e very im p o rta n t today. Is it p ossible n o t to realize th a t? 86
A lthough obviously related, as L em oisne h as observed, to th e p o rtra it
of M m e C am us exhibited at the S alon o f 1870, one of th e few w orks
by Degas in w hich a p ow erful light p ro je cts strik in g p a tte rn s o f shadowon both figure an d settin g yet is barely visible itself,87 these notes are
equally relevant to o th e r w orks by him of th e period. They include The
Orchestra o f the Opera [50], ca. 1869, w here the d an cers a p p e a r as
My Genre P ainting
221
lum inous form s above th e co ncealed footlights, The Ballet from R obert
le D iable, 1872, w h ere the th eatrical lighting p ro d u c e s a sim ilar effect,88
an d above all Interior, h ere d ated 1868, th e earliest of his stu d ies of
n o ctu rn al illum ination. M oreover, the n otes ju s t q u o ted m u st have
fo rm ed one p a rt o f a m ore com p reh en siv e theory; for in his review of
the S alon of 1870, D uranty refe rre d to th e p o rtra it o f M m e C am us as
"this ro se background, against w hich is silh o u etted as in a shadow th eater th e L ady in Social Chiaroscuro (a little jo k e played on th e p ain ter
by his friends, b ec au se o f his artistic th eo ries),89 th u s hin tin g a t D egass
in terest in expressive as well as visual effects of ch iaro scu ro . It is in
fact in Interior itself th a t th e g reater scope of his th o u g h t on th e subject
becom es evident.
H ere th e sources of light, th e faintly glow ing fire a n d vividly in can
d escen t lam p, are of co u rse visible, in c o n tra st to those in the p o rtra it
an d th e a te r scenes; b u t th eir effect is n o less d ra m a tic in its unex p ected
reversals. Placed n e a r th e cen ter of the room , th e lam p casts a brilliant
light on th e w o m a n s back a n d h ead, yet leaves h er featu res m y steri
ously sh ad ed ; p ro jects d eep a n d d istu rb in g sh ad o w s aro u n d th e m an,
y et singles o u t th e w hites o f his collar an d cu ff;90 an d by a sim ilar visual
paradox, th ru sts the b an al sew ing box a n d b ed into p rom inence. T hat
these forceful c o n trasts w ere cen tral to D egass conception fro m th e
beginning is eviden t in th e extensive sh ad in g of his first co m positional
sketch [135], altho u g h it m erely hin ts at th e m ysterious re so n an ce of
shadow he will achieve in the final p ainting. P erh a p s alread y in this
sketch, and surely in th a t o f th e u n o ccu p ied ro o m [138], he reverses
the relative im p o rtan ce of the fire an d lam p in Zolas tex tA good fire
w as blazing in th e h e a r t h ,. . . illu m in atin g th e w hole ro o m w ith a b rig h t
an d flickering rad ian ce, against w hich the lam p on the table seem ed
b u t a feeble glim m er91b u t retain s th eir roles in creatin g an in tim ate
yet pro fo u n d ly tro u b le d atm o sp h ere. We have already seen th a t in p a s
sages such as this "th ro u g h o u t the novel, the various g rad atio n s of
light and d ark serve th em atic p u rp o se s.92 H ow ever, it is d o u b tfu l th a t
Degas w ould have resp o n d ed so im aginatively to th em if he h ad no t
been in terested in sim ilar visual effects a t this tim e.
In this interest, he w as n ot alone am o n g the artists an d w riters a t the
Caf G uerbois, a n d m ay in fact have been influenced by discu ssio n s w ith
222
them . Less th a n a year b efore he began Interiorassu m in g th a t th e date

we have given a n d p resently shall confirm is co rrec tD uranty, in an
article on "The M iddle Class D raw ing R oom , observed: W hen in the
evening the cu rta in s are d raw n an d the lam p h as b ecom e th e sun of
this little w orld, w hen it co n cen trates light an d life aro u n d the table,
w hile distan cin g an d throw ing into shadow all th e furniture, this little
w orld expan d s an d becom es m ysterious, grave, and m ed itativ e. 93 And
in the very y ear th a t Degas co m p leted Interior, M onet p a in te d tw o
versions of th e d ining room in his h o u se at E tre ta t o r F ecam p, one w ith
his fam ily an d friends at d in n e r [148],94 that show a strikingly sim ilar
effect o f artificial light. H ere, too, the feeble glow of a fire is overpow ered
by th a t of a lam p placed n e a r th e cen ter o f th e room , in this case
su sp en d ed above a ro u n d tab le ra th e r th an stan d in g on it, and its co n
c e n trated light brilliantly illum inates certain form s, w hile casting o thers
into deep shadow . H ere, too, th e sh ap es of these lights an d darks,
including th e circu lar shadow the tab le p ro jects o n to the floor, dom inate
o u r first im pression of th e scene.
By the late 1860s, how ever, su ch effects w ere h ard ly an innovation
in R ealist art, at least n ot in th e g rap h ic arts, w hich n atu rally encouraged
the dev elo p m en t of a pow erful chiaro scu ro ; w itness th e p rin ts of in te
riors by C ourbet a n d A lphonse L egros95 an d especially by W histler, with
w hom Degas w as closely acq u ain te d at this time. In th e etchings R eading
by Lam plight an d The M usic R o o m [149],96 b o th executed in 1859,
148.
Monet, The Dinner,
1868-1869. Oil on
canvas.
Emil G. Bhrle
Foundation, Zurich
149.
Whistler, The
Music Room,
1859. Etching.
Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
New York, Harris
Brisbane Dick
Fund, 17.3.26
W histler, too, h ad stu d ied the striking p a tte rn s o f light an d shadow

p ro d u ced by an oil lam p shining in th e cen te r of a d ark room , an d had
c ap tu red the m o o d of in tim ate silence it creates am o n g the figures seated
w ithin its bright sphere. B ut if Degas sh ared , and p erh a p s even discussed,
w ith his R ealist colleagues an in terest in n o ctu rn al illum ination, he
developed it along distinctly d ifferent lines. W hereas th e ch iaro scu ro in
The D inner and The M usic R o o m reco rd s a vivid, essentially lyrical
im pression, in Interior it creates a m ysterious an d vaguely d istu rb in g
atm osphere; and w hereas th e faces in M o n ets an d W h istlers w orks are
ren d ered sum m arily, w ith little in terest in personality, those in D egass
a re characterized w ith th e su b tlety of a novelist.97
N o l e ss im p o rta n t an elem en t in th e effectiveness of Interior as a d ra
m atic tab leau is its convincing illusion of d eep space, rep re se n te d by
m ean s of linear perspective. It is this, m ore th an th e realistically re n
d ered objects w ithin it, th a t m ak es th e w hole a p p e a r so m u ch like a
th eatrical stage set. M oreover, a p a rt from a few stu d e n t w orks o f m o d est
scope,98 it is the first of D egass p ictu res in w hich perspective is e m
ployed consistently an d effectively to su ch an end. H is earlier interiors,
in p o rtraits su ch as The Bellelli Family [7] and Jam es Tissot in an A rtists
224
Studio [68], are not only d o m in a ted by th eir h u m an su b jects, n atu rally
placed n e a r the c e n te r o f th e field; they are also m u ch shallow er, an d
are closed at the re a r by a w all h u n g w ith p ictu res or m irro rs th at tend
to red u ce the d e p th still f u r th e r ." It w as only in p ain tin g historical
events w hich req u ire d a p a n o ra m ic setting, su ch as Sem iram is F ounding
a City, th a t he h a d u sed perspective extensively, an d th ese w ere, of
course, set o u td o o rs.100 T hus we find for th e first tim e in Interior th a t
concern w ith the expressive p o ten tial o f enclosed sp ace th a t w as to
m anifest itself so o ften in D egass ingeniously com posed scenes of
m o d ern life afte r a b o u t 1870. B ut if his p u rp o se in th e la tte r w as to view
fam iliar su b jects in an u n fam iliar m an n er, o ften p iq u a n t o r playful in
th eir a b ru p t angles an d oddly cut o r o v erlapping form s, h ere it w as
ra th e r to h eig h ten th e d ra m a tic effect by creatin g an im age o f physical
confinem ent th a t reinforces th e d o o m ed co u p les ow n sense o f im p ris
on m en t. H ence his p lace m en t of the station p o int of his perspective
co n stru ctio n ra th e r close to th e ob jects show n, so th a t th eir receding
surfaces and edges a p p e a r to converge rapidly, exaggerating th e feeling
of en closu re in a sm all space. H ence, too, his location of the vanishing
p o in t close to th e w o m an s h e a d it is on th e m an tels edge, directly
beh in d h e rso th a t it nearly coincides w ith th e focus of th e m a n 's gaze
an d of the en tire d ra m a tic action.
The effectiveness with w hich Degas em ploys linear perspective in
Interior seem s th e m ore re m ark ab le w hen we discover th at few of his
la te r pictu res are co n stru cte d w ith th e sam e degree o f certainty. His
Portraits in an Office, p ain ted in 1873, is accu rate enough, a n d indeed
suggests the influence o f p h o to g ra p h y in its rapidly d im inishing
fo rm s ;101 b u t increasingly in th a t d ecad e an d th e follow ing one, his
interiors reveal incon sisten cies a n d signs of h esitatio n o r revision p re
cisely in th e definition o f o rth og o n al lines, such as the floor b o a rd s and
w all m oldings in b allet reh e a rsa l scen es.102 Aware of the im p atien ce w ith
trad itio n al m ean s a n d the confidence in in tu itio n th a t led to th ese results,
Degas him self ad m itte d in 1892: I th o u g h t I knew a little a b o u t p ersp ec
tive, I knew n o th in g ab o u t it at all. I th o u g h t th a t one could replace
it by a pro cess of p erp en d icu lars a n d h orizontals, m easu re th e angles
in space by m ean s o f good will alo n e. 103 In th e sam e years, he also
experim en ted w ith a h o m em ad e persp ectiv e device, a p o rta b le w'ooden
M y Genre P ainting
225
fram e fitted w ith a w ire grid th a t w ould e n ab le him to m easu re the

convergence of p lan es an d edges visu ally .104
m ood of m ystery, a p p ro p ria te to its su b ject, th a t Degas achieved
in Interior by rep rese n ta tio n a l m eans, he late r sta te d as a b ro a d e r artistic
goal, in d ep en d e n t of su b jec t m atter, an d so u g h t to achieve by purely
pictorial m eans. A p ain tin g d em a n d s a certain m ystery, vagueness,
fa n tasy , he told Jean n io t. "W hen on e d o ts all th e i's, one en d s by being
b o rin g . 105 And, so u n d in g a fam iliar lam en t o f his la te r years, he told
D aniel H alvy: B eauty is a m ystery, b u t no one know s it any m ore.
The recipes, th e secrets are fo rg o tten . 106 At th e tim e h e p ain te d Interior,
how ever, his style, form ed initially by teac h ers w ho w ere disciples of
Ingres, and refined by p ro lo n g ed stu d y o f R en aissan ce art, w as still
sufficiently precise th a t he h a d to struggle to a ttain th e degree of sh a
dow y am biguity h e u ltim ately d id attain . T hat th e p ictu re lacked this
q u ality at an earlier stage is ev id en t from th e criticism he received from
an o th e r artist, w ho saw it in his stu d io a n d co m m en ted : "T he room too
light in th e back g ro u n d , no t en o u g h m ystery. The sew ing box too co n
spicuous, or in stead not vivid enough. T he fireplace n o t en ough in
s h a d o w .. . . 107 T hese rem ark s are p a rt o f a longer com m en tary , w ritten
The
by som eone w ho w as obviously well a cq u a in te d w ith Degas an d his

am bitions in this w ork, an d h ence could discuss th em freely a n d in
technical detail, even illu stratin g his points w ith sketches. It is th erefo re
a d o cu m en t of th e g reatest interest, an d w as recognized as such by
M arcel G urin, w ho received it from D egass fam ily an d d iscu ssed it at
length w ith Paul P o u ja u d ,108 although, curiously, he re frain ed from
publishing it.
H astily w ritten on bo th sides of a used envelope inscribed "M onsieur
de Gas, ru e L aval 13, 109 this text w as evidently co m p osed in his studio
d u rin g his absence. It begins on th e back an d inside flap o f th e envelope
[150]:
Jenny turned out of the house, Pierre very annoyed, carriage difficult to
find, delay because of Angele, arrived at the caf too late, a thousand
excuses. I shall compliment you on the picture only in person. Be careful
of the rug beside the bed, shocking. The room too light in the background,
not enough mystery. The sewing-box too conspicuous, or instead not vivid
226
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150, 151. Tissot, C om m entary on D egas's Interior, ca. 1868. Pencil.
enough. The fireplace no t enough in shadow (think of the vagueness of
the b ackground in the green w o m an by Millais w ithout subjecting your
self). Too red the floor. Not p ro p rietary enough the m an s legs. Only h u rry
up, th ere is ju st enough tim e. I shall be at S tevenss house tonight. For the
m irro r here is th e effect, I th in k [a sketch of th e m irro r above the fireplace].
The ceiling should be lighter in a m irror. Very light, while throw ing the room
into shadow . H u rry up, h u rry u p .110
T h e m a n u s c r ip t c o n tin u e s in a m o r e d is c o n n e c te d m a n n e r o n th e fr o n t
a n d o u ts id e flap o f th e e n v e lo p e [151J:
Beside the lam p on the table, som ething w hite to th ru st the fireplace back,
a ball of th read (necessary) [a sketch of the table, sewing-box, lam p, and
ball of th read ]. D arker u n d e r the bed. A ch air there o r behind the table
w ould p erh ap s be good. It w ould m ake the ru g beside the bed acceptable
[a sketch of the table, w ith a chair in fro n t o f it].111
M y Genre P ainting
227
W ho is the a u th o r o f this u n u su a l d o cu m en t? In tran scrib in g it for

P oujaud, G uerin suggested an a rtist o f critical intelligence, such as
B racquem ond, o r a critic o f artistic sensibility, such as D uranty; in
replying, P o u jau d rejected b o th n am es and, n o tin g th e referen ce to
Millais, p ro p o sed in stead an E nglish artist, su ch as W histler, E dw in
E dw ards, or L egro s.112 Since th ere is also an allusion to Alfred Stevens,
in w hose house Tissot, F an tin -L ato u r, Puvis de C havannes, an d o th ers
in th e circle aro u n d M anet, inclu d in g Degas him self, o ften g ath ered at
this tim e, th eir nam es, too, m u st be considered. The final references,
to Jenny, Pierre, an d Angele, p o int in the sam e direction, fo r if th e latter
m ay sim ply be a m odel, such as th e Angeles w hose ad d resses ap p ea r
in D egas's n o tebo o k s in this p e rio d ,113 th e first tw o are p ro b ab ly the
m usician Jen n y C lauss an d th e p a in te r Pierre Prins, b o th o f w hom are
know n to have been closely a c q u a in ted w ith M anet at this tim e .114 Of
th e artists and w riters ju s t m entioned, how ever, all b u t one can be
elim inated, eith er b ecau se they w ere n ot in P aris in 1868 o r b ecau se th eir
h an d w ritin g does n o t m a tc h th a t of the m an u scrip t. In fact, the one
w hose w riting co rresp o n d s best, Ja m es T isso t,115 is also th e one w hose
experience and re p u ta tio n as a realistic genre p a in te r w ould b est have
qualified him to m ak e so detailed a critique in so au th o ritativ e a to n e .116
M oreover, he m u st have been friendly w ith Je n n y Clauss, w ho visited
him in L ondon in 1871;117 an d his frien d sh ip w ith Degas, w hich w as
la te r to decline som ew hat, w as a t this m o m en t at its stro n g e stw itness
th e am bitious p o rtra it Degas p ain ted of him a b o u t 1866-1868 [68] and
th e references to h im in n oteb o o k s o f th e sam e y e a rs.118 This intim acy
is also evident in th e th o ro u g h n ess o f T issot's criticism o f Interior and
in his insistence th a t Degas finish it quickly, p resu m ab ly so th a t he could
exhibit it at the S alo n o f 1868, the o n e o p p o rtu n ity he w ould hav e had.
If this w as indeed th e p u rp o se o f T isso ts urging, th en his com m entary,
like th e initial w ork o n th e p ictu re itself, can be d a ted to th e first m o n th s
o f the year.
T hat Degas acknow ledged his frie n d s au th o rity in th e field of realistic
g enre is a p p a re n t from th e ex ten t to w hich he in co rp o rated th e la tte rs
criticism into th e final version of Interior. Ironically, it w as only a few
years later, in The Parting a n d A n Interesting Story, b o th o f 1872, and
above all in A Passing Storm [152], ca. 1875,119 scenes o f m o d e rn life
228
152. Tissot, A Passing Storm, ca. 1875. Oil on canvas.

Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, presented by the Sir James
Dunn Foundation
in w hich a physical distance im plies a psychological tension betw een

the staring or brooding figures, th at T issots art in tu rn revealed the
influence of precisely the type of com position he h ad seen in Interior
and in Sulking [83], a roughly contem porary p ictu re .120 But in 1868
Degas, w ho had concen trated on historical subjects and p o rtraiture, had
far less experience in this field and was therefore p rep ared to accept
T issots criticism . Of th e ten points it covered, he definitely rejected only
one, the in troduction of a chair in front of the ro u n d table. T hree of
the oth er po in tsth a t the rug beside the bed was "shocking, the rear
of the room too light, and the fireplace not sufficiently in shadow he
m ay or m ay n o t have heeded, th e prep arato ry studies and num erous
pentim enti in the picture itself providing no conclusive evidence either
M y Genre P ainting
229
w ay .121 H ow ever, it is clear from th e sam e types of evidence th a t he

did accept th e rem ain in g six p oints. T hus, he intensified the illu m in a
tion of th e sew ing box, to m ake it m o re consp icu o u s; stain ed p a rts of
th e floor w ith th in black w ashes, to m ake th em less red d ish ; redrew
the m a n s legs several tim es, to m ak e his stan c e m o re im posing; light
ened th e tone of the u p p e r h a lf o f th e m irror, to m ake it reflect m ore
accurately th e ligh ter ceiling; ad d ed a sm all ball of w hite th re a d on the
table, to m ake the la tte r stan d fo rth from th e fireplace; an d d eep en ed
th e shadow b en eath th e bed, p resu m ab ly to m ake its light tones em erge
m ore forcefully, th o u g h T issot did n o t explain th e p u rp o se of this re
v isio n .122
Both from his criticism a n d from th e n a tu re o f D egass accep tan ce
or rejection of it, w e learn in u n u su a l detail how responsive a rtists of
this period rem ain e d to the sm allest elem ents of im agery an d re p re
sentatio n, b u t also how w illing they w ere to in vent an elem en t in o rd er
to satisfy a purely pictorial need. The d em an d for som eth in g w h ite
on th e table, fo r exam ple, resu lted in th e ad d itio n o f a ball of w hite
th re a d w hose p resen ce we m ight o therw ise have sou g h t to explain in
icon o g rap h ie term s. In fact, som e o f th e early critics d id precisely this,
in in terp re tin g it, along w'ith th e sew ing box, as an indicatio n of the
w o m an s low er social sta tu s .123
C u riously , n o n e o f T issot's co m m en ts ind icated th a t he w as aw are of
D egass literary source; b u t one o f th em p o in ted to a previously u n su s

pected pictorial so u rceth e green w o m an by M illais, w'hose so m b er
an d m ysterious back g ro u n d h e re co m m en d ed to Degas as a m odel for
th a t of Interior. The p ictu re to w hich T issot cryptically a llu d ed is the
w ell-know n Eve o f St. Agnes [153], w hich h ad been exhibited in Paris
in the spring of 1867 a t th e W orlds F a ir.124 In review ing th e latter, the
critic T hophile T hor, too, called M illais's p ictu re th e G reen W om an,
a p o p u la r title evidently in sp ired by th e p resen ce in it of greenish rays
. . . a green glaze, an d he m ad e it a p p a re n t w'hy th e co rrect title, derived
from a poem by K eats, w as generally m isu n d e rsto o d in F rance: I do
n o t know , any m ore th a n th e first day, why th is p ic tu re by M. Millais
is entitled The Eve o f St. Agnes. No d o u b t th ere is in E n g lan d som e
legend a b o u t a m y sterio u s night, w here an y th in g can h a p p e n . 125 T hor
230
also noted th a t [it] w as very m u ch ad m ired by certain a rtists ; an d

indeed, th e attitu d e o f Degas an d T issot w as sh ared by th e ir friend
W histler, w ho rem ark ed w hen it w as first exhibited in 1863: Millais has
p ro d u ced a real picture this year! In short, n o thin g could be m ore
a rtistic. 126 By the 1880s it h ad b ecom e one of the m o st p o p u la r PreR aphaelite p ictu res in F rance, o n e th a t H u y sm an s placed am o n g th e
m asterp ieces a d m ired by Des E sseintes, th e h ero o f his novel A gainst
the Grain, an d th at D uranty, recalling the im p ressio n it h a d m ad e at
th e W orlds Fair, p raised as p a r excellence a poetic a n d a rtistic w o rk . 127
H ence it is not su rp risin g th a t T issot sh o u ld have advised Degas to
rem em b er its vagueness of b ac k g ro u n d o r th a t th e la tte r sh o u ld have
follow ed this advice in p ain tin g th e b ack g ro u n d o f Interior. In fact, there
are indications th a t b o th artists w ere m ore inclined in th e y ears a ro u n d
1870 th a n at any o th e r tim e to accep t the influence of M illais an d of
recent E nglish art in general.
231
153 (opposite).
Millais, The Eve of St.
Agnes, 1863. Oil on canvas.
Collection of Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother, London, copyright
reserved
154.
Tissot, The Staircase, 1869.
Oil on canvas.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs.
J. M. Tanenbaum, Toronto
In 1871, T issot settled in L o ndon, w here he h ad already exhibited an d

visited in th e previous d ecade, an d alm o st at o n ce he w as acclaim ed
by th e circle of p ro m in e n t artists th a t included M illais.128 E ven b efore
h e left F rance, th e m eticu lo u s realism of his genre p ictu res w as rem in is
cent of the latter's, as Paul M antz observ ed so m ew h at m aliciously ab o u t
his Springtim e at th e S alon of 1865: It so h ap p en s, by accid en t no do u b t,
th a t M. T issot h as tra n slate d in to F ren ch a p ain tin g by th e P re-R aphaelite, M. Millais, w hich we saw in L ondon in 1862 an d w hich stru ck us:
A pple Blossoms, said the catalo g u e. 129 A nother exam ple, o f p a rtic u la r
in terest for o u r discussion, is T isso ts The Staircase [154], p a in te d in
1869;130 fo r it is p ro b ab ly in sp ired , b o th in its R o m an tic co n cep tio n of
th e pensive fem ale figure an d in its detailed yet deliberately so m b e r and
suggestive tre a tm e n t o f th e setting, by th e very pictu re he h ad re c o m
m en d ed to Degas th e y ear before, The E ve o f St. Agnes. It is also re m i
n iscen t of M illaiss Sw a llo w ! Sw allow !, exhibited at the Royal A cadem y
232
in 1865;131 and appropriately, the influence of b oth pictures is ap p aren t

in tw o of W histlers fem ale figuresThe Little White Girl, ca. 1865, and
one of the Three Figures, 1867-1868as has recently been show'n.132
Degas him self, although n eith er acquainted with Millais nor as
strongly influenced by his work, w as p erhaps m ore aw'are of him than
of any other Victorian m aster. In his letters to Tissot, w ho becam e his
principal contact with the artistic life of London, the E nglishm ans nam e
figured repeatedly. If you see M illais, he w rote in 1872, tell him I
am very' sorry not to have been able to see him and tell him of my
appreciation for him . 133 Millais w'ill not understand my little AngloAmerican [artistic] baggage, he w rote alm ost deferentially in 1873,
explaining his refusal to send som ething to the Royal Academy exhibi
tion; but he added, my regards to Millais. 134 T hat Degas had studied
recent English a rt attentively even earlier, at the W orlds Fair, is evident
not only in T issots assum ption th at he w ould recall The Eve o f St. Agnes,
b u t in the titles of Victorian landscapes and seascapes by Hook, Inchbold, Lewis, Severn, and others th a t Degas listed in a notebook at the
tim e.13S In an open letter to the Salon jury in 1870, he referred again
to the English w orks at th e W orld's Fair, m entioning one by Frederick
Leighton in particular; it m ust be Golden Hours, whose com position
bears a strong resem blance to th at of Sulking, painted in the sam e
years.136 And in the background of the latter, Degas reproduced a color
engraving of a typical equestrian subject by J. F. H erring, the m ost
p opular Victorian sporting a rtist.137
A m ore im portant link than Tissot betw een m odern French an d E ng
lish art in the 1860s, and one w ith w hich Degass own art w'as closely
linked at the tim e he painted Interior, was the truly cosm opolitan art
of W histler. One exam ple of the m ediating role it played is his Sym phony
in White, No. 3 [10], begun in 1865 and com pleted tw o years later. For
on the one hand, it was clearly influenced by the classical them es and
designs, the m usical conceptions and titles, of recent works by Albert
Moore, such as The Marble Bench and A M usician; 138 and on the oth er
hand, it directly influenced the u nusual arran g em en t and languid, intro
spective poses of the figures, once again coupled with a m usical them e,
in a slightly later w ork by Degas, Mile Fiocre in the Ballet from "La
Sou rce [9],139 In fact, one of his studies for the latter appears in the
sam e notebook as his copy of W histlers com position, presum ably m ade
155.
Whistler, Symphony in White,
No. 1: The White Girl, 1862. Oil
on canvas.
National Gallery, Washington,
Harris Whittemore Collection
d . c .,
w hen it w as in Paris early in 1867. (Tissot, too, saw it then, and according
to Fantin-L atour w as "like a m ad m an ab o u t this picture, he ju m p ed for
joy over it. 140)
A nother exam ple of W histler's role as an interm ediary, m ore im p o rtan t
in relation to Interior, is his Sym phony in White, No. 1 of 1862, know n
originally as The White Girl [155], Again there is a dependence on
E nglish art, specifically on M illaiss Apple Blossoms, w hich W histler
adm ired, and in w hich th e figures display, besides th eir psychological
isolation and intensity of m ood, a certain elem ent of troubled ero ti
cism ,141 an elem ent th at is also p resen t in his ow n picture. Indeed, one
contem porary critic, inspired no doubt by the tensions in the virginal
figures pose and expression, as well as the wilted lily in h er h and and
the fallen flowers at h er feet, had in terp reted its su b ject as the m orning
234
after of the b rid e . 142 And again th ere is an im p act on F ren ch art, in
fact on Interior itself, w hich Degas p ain ted shortly a fte r seeing at th e
W orld's F air n o t only The White Girl, b u t The Eve o f St. Agnes, a p ictu re
even m ore explicitly a b o u t th e u n h ap p in e ss of love and o n e w hose
heroine w as in tu rn in sp ired by W histlers an d cap tu re d in h er m y steri
ous isolation an d m oody ex pression som ething of the la tte r's strangely
suggestive feeling.143 On th e eve o f p ain tin g Interior, then, Degas w as
in close c o n ta c tb o th directly, th ro u g h M illais, a n d indirectly, th rough
W histlerw ith a c u rre n t in rec en t E nglish a rt co n cern ed w ith precisely
the kind of tense an d am b ig u o u s erotic th em e th a t he w as a b o u t to be
concerned w ith him self. Given his a ttitu d e to w ard w om en, it is a them e
th a t w ould n atu rally have h ad a g reater appeal th a n th e frankly sensual
treatm en t o f love in re c en t F ren ch p ictu res, su ch as M anet's Olympia
and C o u rb e ts W oman w ith the Parrot, bo th of w hich w ere exhibited at
the tim e of th e W orlds F a ir.144
B eginning w ith th e P re-R aphaelites in the 1850sw itness R o ssettis
Found, H o lm an H u n ts A w a ken in g Conscience, an d a n u m b e r of M illaiss
d raw in g s145this c u rre n t flowed m ore b ro ad ly in the follow ing decade
th ro u g h V ictorian n arrativ e pictures, som e of w hich b ear so curious a
resem blan ce to Interior th a t its relation to them m u st also be considered.
Like it, they are a visual eq u iv alen t of m o d ern literatu re, often in sp ired
by actual w orks of fiction o r d ram a, w ith figures an d settings b ased on
c o n tem p o rary m odels an d rep resen ted in m eticulous detail, b u t in a m
bivalent situ atio n s th a t create su sp en se a n d invite th e view ers im ag in a
tive p artic ip a tio n we recall th e m an y view ers w ho con v erted Interior
into The Rape. Like the latter, too, V ictorian n arrativ e p ictu res o ften deal
w ith them es of tem p tatio n , m oral conflict, guilt, an d despair, an d in a
realistic idiom th a t d em a n d s psychological insight in p o rtray in g the
various h u m a n typesagain we recall Interior an d D egass stu d ies of
physiognom y. H e w ould in fact h ave learn ed as m u ch a b o u t this su b ject
from his E nglish colleagues as from th e treatises of Le B run, Lavater,
an d D elsarte, an d h ad p erh a p s already done so in copying n u m ero u s
h ead s and figures from th e engravings of H ogarth, the g reatest of E ng
lish n arrativ e p a in te rs.146 Indeed, Taine m ain tain ed th a t one could learn
m ore from them : M any are excellent observers, especially o f m oral
ex p ressio n , he w rote in 1864, an d will succeed very well in show ing
M y Genre P ainting
235
you th e soul by m ean s of the face; one learns by looking at them , one
follows w ith them a course in psychology. 147 And E rn est C hcsneau, in
review ing th e E nglish w orks a t th e W orlds Fair, d evoted a c h ap te r to
"The P hysiognom ists, m arveling at th e ir ability to c a p tu re the ex p res
sive m ovem ents of th e h u m a n c o u n te n a n ce , an d in it d iscussed tw o
pictu res o f m oral w eakness o r failure th a t m u st also have stru ck Degas
A lfred E lm ore's On the B rink an d R o b ert M artin ea u s Last Day in the
Old H om e. 148
Still m ore relev an t to the do m estic d ra m a Degas d ep icted in Interior
is A ugustus E ggs w ell-know n trip ty ch Past a n d Present, th e cen tral panel
of w hich [156] show s th e m o m en t of c o n fro n tatio n betw een a desp airin g
wife, w ho h as been un faith fu l, an d an e m b ittered h u sb a n d , w ho foresees
156. Egg, Past and Present, No. 1, 1858. Oil on canvas.
Tate Gallery, London
236
the tragic consequences (show n in the o th er panels).149 The design of

E ggs picture is, to be sure, altogether different from th at of D egass,
b u t the subtle p ortrayal o f the figures' feelings in their faces an d pos
tures, the realistic description of their setting, whose banal details only
heighten the m ood of tragedy, and the use of light and shadow to create
an atm osphere of d ram atic tension are all respects in w hich they are
alike. Even the sym bolism of th e pictures in the b ackgrounda sh ip
w reck scene and an E xpulsion from E denw ould have appealed to
Degas, who, as we saw in C hapter III, often m ade use of such sym bolism
him self and also found it em ployed extensively b oth in Thrse Raquin
and in Madeleine F erai.150 There is no evidence th a t he ever saw Past
and Present, even in a reproduction; b u t w hen Thor saw it in 1860, he
described it in term s th at bring both Interior and its literary sources to
m ind: A them e for a dram a in the th eater m ore than a subject for a
painting on canvas. But there is, in this triptych by M. Egg, an undefinable accent of fatality, and the figure of the w om an flattened on the
ground is of a fearful energy. 151
Despite the sim ilarities ju st discussed, there are, of course, fu n d a
m ental differences betw een the realism o f Degas and th at of Victorian
narrative painters, differences in pictorial pow er and im agination th at
necessarily lim it the extent to w hich one can be considered an influence
on the other. In fact, one could say it is in those respects in which
Interior differs from Eggs Past and Present or even Millaiss Eve o f St.
Agnes, in oth er w ords, those in w hich it resem bles M onets The D inner
or even W histlers White Girl, th at its effectiveness as a pictorial state
m ent can be m easured. In the final analysis, how ever, Interior belongs
fully neither to one tradition nor to the other, bu t stan d s m idw ay be
tw een the two; and not only in the abstract, m erely verbal sense th at
such a form ula im plies, b u t in the concrete, historical sense determ ined
by its position in Degass artistic developm ent. For it com es at a point
in the 1860s w hen he has only recently ceased to pain t the historical
subjects with literary sources th a t d om inate his early work, a n d has
hardly begun to pain t the m odern subjects of purely visual significance
that will occupy him henceforth. And in reconciling both tendencies,
and holding them in balanceth a t rem arkable balance of psychological
subtlety an d pictorial pow er w hich is its distinctive q u ality - it is in m any
My Genre Painting
237
respects superior to both, and thus m ay justify the extravagant state

m ents w ith w hich we began. Among his m asterpieces, it may indeed
be the m asterpiece.
appendix: Interior, Madeleine Frat, and

The New Painting
In The N ew Painting, published in 1876, there is a passage strongly
suggesting th a t Degas's Interior an d Zola's Madeleine Frat w ere already
linked in D urantys m ind, as they w ould be m ore explicitly in the m inds
of later w riters. The passage occurs in a section concerned w ith the
expressiveness of certain postures and gestures in daily life and their
representation in th e kind of realistic art D uranty is advocating: "The
posture will inform us th a t this person is going to a business meeting,
and this o th er one is returning from a lovers meeting. A m an opens a
door, he enters, that is enough: we see that he has lost his daughter. H ands
k ept in the pockets can be eloquent. The pencil will be steeped in the
juice of life. 152
The sentence D uranty underlines strikes an oddly d ram atic note,
im plausible in itself and inconsistent w ith the prosaic tone of those th at
precede and follow it. It is m ore like a m em ory of a novel o r play than
an illustration of a theory; and indeed, in conjunction with the phrase
this other one is retu rn in g from a lovers m eeting, it suggests th at he
is recalling the tragic scene in w hich M adeleine Frat, retu rn in g hom e
from a m eeting with h er lover Jacques, finds th a t h e r d au g h ter has died.
For it is precisely the m o m en t of stu n n ed realization at the doorw ay
th at Zola describes: She w ent to the room w here Lucies body was lying.
. . . The atrocious sight th a t aw aited h er there, the child w hose pale head
sank into the p illo w ,. . . stopped h e r cold at the threshold. She u n d er
stood everything a t a glance. Then she cam e forw ard slow ly."153 Not
unlike Jacques him self in the earlier scene at the Auberge du G rand Cerf,
we m ight add, or like L au ren t in the w edding night scene of Thrse
Raquin.
238
But the perso n D uranty d escrib es is a m an, an d in th e next sen ten ce

he speaks of a distinctly m ascu lin e gesture, the "h a n d s kep t in th e
p o ck ets. H ere it seem s he is recalling a n o th e r im age, th e m an w ho
stan d s in th a t very p o stu re, also on the thresh o ld of a room filled w ith
im p en d in g tragedy, in D egass Interior. T his section of The N ew Painting
is in fact largely b ased on D egass art, as Rivire im plied in q u o tin g it
in his book o n th e a rtist a n d as D uranty him self m ad e clear in providing
a key to th e allusions in his p a m p h le t.154 So u n u su al w as this gesture
in the kind o f a rt he w as discussing, how ever, th a t the connection w ith
Degas w ould in any event have been clear. P robably th e m o st astu te
observer of the attitu d e s a n d feelings revealed by such a seem ingly banal
or colloquial g esture, he w as th e first to m ake effective u se o f it, a t least
in p ain tin g .155 And the first to note its su b tly variab le m eaning: in his
studies for a p o rtra it of M anet, it conveys th a t d e b o n a ir figures w orldly
ease an d confidence; in his p o rtra it of M ichel-Lvy [91], it suggests
in stead an a ttitu d e of resignation, even of d e sp a ir.156 B ut it is in Interior
th a t it evokes th e m ost com plex feelings, at once casual and uncertain,
arro g an t an d h esitan t, an d it w as u n d o u b ted ly this exam ple th a t D uranty
h ad in m in d a n d asso ciated w ith M adeleine Frat, a w ork m ore intim ately
connected w ith it th a n h e p erh ap s realized.
VI
To Make Sculpture
Modern
V ^ T it n, for the first tim e in his career, Degas exhibited one of his
sculptures, the Little Dancer o f Fourteen Years [157], at the Im pressionist
show of 1881, Paris could scarcely m aintain its equilibrium , it seem ed
to Mrs. Ilavem eyer. "[H e] becam e the hero of the hour. His nam e was
on all lips, his statue discussed by all th e art w orld. 1 For as H uysm ans
observed m ore thoughtfully, he had in one stroke m ade sculpture au d a
ciously m odern, "at the first blow . . . overthrow n the traditions of
sculpture, ju st as he had long ago shaken the conventions of p ainting. 2
Despite this insistence on its m odernity, however, the w ork had no
im m ediate influence on the history of m odern sculpture: its revolu
tionary use of m aterials was taken up in Cubist and F uturist a rt only
thirty years later, independently of its exam ple.3 The real significance
of the Little Dancer was in m arking a turning point in Degass own
developm ent as a sculptor. W hereas for over a decade he had concen
trated on statuettes of horses, often related to those in his paintings,
he now turned to w hat had always been the central subject of his art,
the hum an figure. And in this first am bitious attem pt, ab o u t tw o-thirds
life size in scale, highly finished in execution, com plex and ingenious
in technique, he succeeded brilliantly. Only one of his surviving figurines
is earlier th an this one, and it is a study of a nude in the sam e pose,
m ade in preparatio n for it [158].4
Both the achievem ent and its favorable reception, at least am ong
certain artists and w riters, m ust have encouraged Degas to u ndertake
oth er difficult sculptural projects, for w ithin the next few years he
produced three w orks that were equally unconventional in their way:
a large relief of young w om en picking apples in the country, the only
experim ent w ith this form he ever attem pted [163]; a subtly m odeled
239
157.
D egas, Little Dancer
of Fourteen Years,
1880-1881. B ro n z e
w ith tu lle sk irt a n d
sa tin h a ir rib b o n .
M etropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, The
H. O. Havemeyer
Collection, bequest of
Mrs. H. O. H ave
meyer, 29.100.370
158 (right).
D egas, S tu d y fo r
Little Dancer of
Fourteen Years,
1879-1880. B ronze.
H. O. H avemeyer
Mrs. H. O. H ave
meyer, 29.100.373
159 (far right).
D egas, Dressed
Dancer at Rest, ca.

1900. B ronze.
H. O. Havemeyer
Mrs. H. O. H ave
meyer, 29.100.392
To M ake Sculpture Modern
241
figurine of a schoolgirl w alking w ith her book bag [171]; and a b u st of

a young w om an th at eventually becam e a half-length figure w ith arm s.
Of the three, only th e bust, w hich is m entioned in his correspondence,
has been dated correctly to the sum m er of 1884; the relief has always
been placed "well before 1870, and the figurine has been given no date
or one ca. 1910.s W hen they, too, are situated in the early 1880s, solely
on the basis of external evidence, their internal affinities with the b ust
and the Little Dancer also becom e m ore apparent. Together they consti
tuted an enterprise w hose goal for Degas was, as H uysm ans realized,
to m ake his sculpture m odern in all the ways in w hich his painting was
m odern: them atically, in the choice of distinctly u nheroicin this case,
aw kw ardly adolescentfigures from contem porary life; stylistically, in
the stress on precise description of their postures, gestures, costum es,
and expressions; and technically, in the search for novel, often vernac
ular m aterials and m ethods. How characteristic of th at m om ent in his
developm ent this am bition was becom es evident w hen the Little Dancer
is com pared w ith the Dressed Dancer at Rest [159] of ca. 1900, one of
242
the very few clothed figures in his late r sc u lp tu re .6 By th en th e so p h is

ticated illusionism h ad yielded to a m ore exclusive in terest in form a n d
m ovem ent; an d th e d an c e rs b odice a n d skirt, alth o u g h im pressive in
th eir m ass a n d silhouette, are far from realistic in texture, w hich varies
from roug h to sm ooth, b u t rem ain s th ro u g h o u t th a t of sc rap ed or
m odeled wax.
Affinities am ong his ow n w orks are no t th e only ones th a t em erge m ore
clearly w hen D egass sc u lp tu ral p ro jects o f th e early 1880s are view'ed
together. T heir relatio n to th e w ork of o th e r artists, b oth professional
sculptors such as Ju les D alou and M edardo R osso and pain ter-scu lp to rs
such as D aum ier an d G auguin, also becom es intelligible, a n d alm o st for
the first tim e.7 The discussion of D egass scu lp tu re h as in general been
so m u ch d o m in ated by efforts to relate it to his better-know rn paintings
and p astelseven to th e p o int w here, in a recen t study, the latter are
assu m ed to be c o n tem p o rary w ith b ronzes rep resen tin g the sam e s u b
jects, w'hose dates they are th u s assu m ed to p rovide8th a t its co n n ec
tions w ith som e of th e m o st original scu lp tu re o f its tim e have largely
been ignored. This is especially tru e of G auguins early w orks, w hich
w ere m ade an d exhibited in th e sam e years as D egass an d are intim ately
related to them , having in som e cases influenced an d in o th ers been
influenced by them .
E v e r y t h i n g a b o u t the Little D ancer o f Fourteen Years [157] is u n u su al
an d intriguing, even th e m a n n e r of its first exhibition. A lthough p ro m ised
for the Im p ressio n ist show o f 1880, it w'as evidently n o t read y in tim e,
a n d only th e glass case Degas h ad built for it w as displayed. The effect
of this em pty, polished case m u st have b een startlin g and, allow ing for
differences in taste and technology, ra th e r like th at of the first glass
boxes of L arry Bell som e eighty years later. U nfortunately, no co n te m
porary reactio n is reco rd ed ; it w as only w hen the figurine itself w as
show n in 1881 th a t one w riter m en tio n ed the form erly em p ty case,
ad m ired m o reo v er for its m agnificent sim plicity.9 H e did n o t describe

it further, b u t it m ay well have resem b led the large vitrine, also elegantly
sim ple, in w hich an E tru scan sarco p h ag u s from C ervetri w as displayed
in the Louvre. Degas h a d m ad e a very careful draw in g of this a ro u n d
1879 [160],10 in p re p ara tio n for an etching show ing M ary a n d Lydia
To M ake Sculpture M odern
243
C assatt in the E tru sca n gallery [97], an d m ay even have h ad his own
p ro ject in m ind w hen he chose this u n u su al su b je c t to begin w ith. The
sarcophagus, too, m u st have in terested him , for its finely m odeled and
polychrom ed figures, so m ew h at sm aller th an life size, w ere a p reced en t
for his ow n; an d no t only form ally b ut expressively, in th eir strange
blend of realism a n d artificiality. In fact, the very p h ra se used at the
tim e to characterize the sarco p h ag u s, "a stran g e w ork, a t once refined
and prim itive, w as also u sed by H u y sm an s in describ in g D egass w ork,
at once refined a n d b a rb a ro u s. 11
So refined did th e Little D ancer seem , w hen it w as finally show n in
1881, th a t the public, very bew ildered an d as th o u g h e m b a rra sse d ,
sim ply lied; "the terrib le reality o f th is statu e tte obviously cau sed it
d isco m fo rt. 12 O bliged to rem ain, the critics confessed them selves bo th
fascin ated an d frightened. "The resu lt is alm ost frig h ten in g , w rote Paul
M antz, a fo rm er D irector-G eneral o f Fine Arts, w ho th e n acknow ledged
th e singular tru th fu ln ess of the overall m o v em en t, b u t w as o u trag ed
by th e instinctive ugliness of a face on w hich all the vices im p rin t th eir
d etestab le p ro m ises. 13 In his w idely read colum n in Le Temps, the critic
Jules C laretie, too, spoke o f a N atu ralism th at is strangely attractive,
disturbing, un u su al, . . . w ith a very P arisian, very p o in ted a ccen t, and
called p a rtic u la r atten tio n to th e vicious m uzzle of this little, barely
ad o lescen t girl, th is little flower of th e g u tter. 14 M ore positive, th o u g h
160 .
Degas, Study
for At the
Louvre: Mary
Cassatt in the
Etruscan Gal
lery, 1879-1880.
Pencil.
Private collec
tion, Williamstown
i \
161.
Degas, Studies for Little Dancer of
Fourteen Years, 1879-1880. Charcoal and
white chalk.
still quite critical, th e collector an d art histo rian C harles E p hrussi o b
served th a t th e figure w as im pressive in execution, an d d raw n in a
rigorous, p en etratin g m an n er, w hich revealed w ith im m ense intelligence
the intim ate c h arm s and pro fessio n of the su b je c t, even if she h erself
w as frightfully ugly. 15 A part from R enoir an d W histler, only H uysm ans seem s to have ad m ired th e w ork w ithout reservation: fascinated
by its in d u strial co stu m e, w hich included a gauze tutu, a linen bodice,
satin slippers, an d a silk h a ir rib b o n , a n d by its subtly m odeled an d
pain ted wax, its colored, th ro b b in g flesh w rinkled by the play of the
m u scles, he d eclared it "th e only really m odern a tte m p t th a t 1 know
of in scu lp tu re. 16 The tension th a t all these w riters felt betw een a
scrupulously realistic tech n iq u e and a psychologically d istu rb in g co n
tent, a tension fu n d a m e n ta l to the sta tu e tte s existence as N aturalist
sculpture, em erges m ore clearly w hen we co n sid er its so u rces a n d form al
developm ent.
W ith a th o ro u g h n ess u n u su al in his m a tu re w ork, Degas drew the
figure at least sixteen tim es before u n d ertak in g to m odel it; there are
th a t m any studies, d raw n in ch arcoal an d pastel, on th e six sheets th at
have su rv iv ed .17 H is m odel, a young d an ce stu d en t a t th e O pera, has
traditionally been identified as "the Van G oeten girl, and this is co n
firm ed by D egass n o ta tio n o f h e r ad d ress on one of the sheets [161]
245
and in a no teb o o k h e u sed a t the tim e, largely in co n n ectio n w ith scu lp

tural p ro je c ts.18 A Belgian by b irth, M arie Van G oethen was a fam iliar
figure in a rtists stu d io s an d in cafs su ch as th e N ouvelle-A thnes, w hich
Degas, too, freq u en ted ; in 1880 sh e m ay well have been fourteen, since
h er d eb u t at the O pera o ccu rred only eight years la te r.19 Proud of h er
long black hair, she supp o sed ly insisted on w'earing it hanging dow n
h er back w hen she danced, exactly as Degas h ad draw 'n h er earlier. If
several of his stud ies show h er from beh in d , em ph asizin g h e r hair, in
oth ers she is seen in frontal, profile, an d th re e -q u a rte r views, clearly
because he w ished to record from every angle, in fully scu lp tu ral term s,
the difficult pose she h ad assu m ed . Som e o f th e draw ings, m ade in
p re p aratio n for th e statu e tte show ing h er n u d e [158], reveal a su rp ris
ingly conventional interest in stu d y in g th e anatom y th o ro u g h ly before
dep icting the figure clothed as it w ould eventually ap p ear. But som e of
th e others, draw n from a p osition well above h er h ead, reflect a m ore
personal in terest in view ing figures from above in o rd e r to o b tain a novel
perspective. In a n o teb o o k u sed at this time, Degas w rote: Set up
p latfo rm s all aro u n d th e room , to get u sed to d raw ing things from above
and below. . . . H ave the m odel pose on the gro u n d level and w ork on
the first level. 20 H ere, how ever, his choice o f a high v iew point m ay also
anticipate th a t of the sp e c ta to r looking dow n at the sta tu e tte in its case.
Inevitably, the intense realism o f D egass m eth o d resu lted in a w ork
th a t struck m ost view ers as excessively real, hen ce repulsive; th is w as
the dilem m a faced by all N atu ralist art, b u t by n o n e m ore acutely th a n
sculpture. One of th e reaso n s, we have seen, w as th a t th e ad o lescen t
d a n c e rs face, m od eled in great detail [162], expressed em o tio n s far
162.
Detail of Figure 157
246
rem oved from th ese view ers idealized notion of the ballet. "W hy is she
so ugly? d em a n d e d M antz, deeply offended; W hy is h er forehead, h alf
concealed by h er hair, alread y m ark ed like h e r lips by a n a tu re so
p ro foundly v icio u s? 21 Even a sy m p ath etic critic, E phrussi, lam en ted
h er appalling ugliness, the vulgarly u p tu rn e d nose, the p ro tru d in g
m outh, and . . . the little, half-closed ey es. 22 Initially th e B elgian m odel
herself m ay have been resp o n sib le for this effect; in D egass draw ings
[e.g. 161], h e r angular, flattened featu res and dull stare, ren d e re d with
unflattering tru th fu ln ess, resem b le n o th in g so m uch as those of the
N eunen p easa n ts in Van G oghs early draw ings. But as he developed
it further, h e r physiognom y, oddly tilted up an d th ru st forw ard, cam e
increasingly to express a sense of strain o r suffering, reflecting h e r effort
to m ain tain an aw kw ard p osture, and, m ingled w ith it, a vaguely sensual
yearning, especially in the half-closed eyes. T hat Degas deliberately
sought this tro u b led expression becom es evident w hen it is co m p ared
w ith the m ore graciously sm iling one he gave the sam e m odel in p ictures
of a d an ce r on stage for w hich she posed som e years la te r.23
M ore th an h er features, w h at m ad e th e Little D ancer so d isturbin g
was h er ex trao rd in arily lifelike ap p earan ce, en h an ced by the use of
p ain ted w ax an d actual clothing. S earch in g for p recedents, co n tem
porary critics thou g h t o f certain form s of o ld er religious art: C laretie
w as rem in d ed of th e realism of S panish p o lychrom ed sc u lp tu re, an d
H uysm ans recalled th e C hrist in the C athedral of Burgos, w hose h air
is real hair, w hose th o rn s are real thorns, w hose d rap ery is a real fa b
ric. 24 They m ight also have m en tio n ed the p o p u la r wax figures, vividly
p ain ted an d elab o rately costum ed, fo u n d in N eapolitan N ativity groups
well into th e n in eteen th cen tu ry ; an d w ith m ore justification, since
Degas, a freq u en t visitor to N aples, w as u n d o u b ted ly fam iliar w ith
th e m .25 B ut th ere w as also a trad itio n o f secu lar scu lp tu re long accu s
tom ed to em ploying such tech n iq u es to achieve the kind of d istu rb in g
effect he unw ittingly achieved in the Little Dancerth e trad itio n of the
w axw ork m useum . It w as also closer to hom e, having long been a
fam iliar featu re o f th e e n te rta in m e n t at ru ral fairs in F ran ce an d a
p o p u la r to u rist attra c tio n called M m e T u ssau d s E xhibition in L ondon,
a city Degas visited several tim es in th e 1870s. A collection o f wax
figurines ow ned by the jo u rn a list H enri C h abrillat h ad also been dis
247
played in Paris, in a gallery n e ar th e O pera, to w ard th e en d of the

previous d ecad e.26 In addition, the grow ing in terest in illusionism th a t
lies behind D egass ex p erim en t m an ifested itself in a series of p ain ted
p an o ram as recreatin g fam o u s battles of th e F ranco-P russian War:
against lan d scap es painted by E d o u ard Dtaill, A lphonse de Neuville,
and th e like, grim ly realistic w ax soldiers w earing actual u n ifo rm s w ere
deployed. As C laretie observed, It is this m ixture of th e M orgue a n d
the L uxem bourg M useum , of a Salon o f p a in tin g an d a M me T u ssau d s
Exhibition, w hich will in su re th e p o p u larity of these p a n o ra m a s. 27 This
w as in 1881, th e y ear D egass figurine w as show n; one y ear later th e
G rvin M useum , a very P arisian an d very m o d ern version o f Mme
T ussaud s estab lish m en t, o p en ed w ith g reat fa n fa re an d achieved im
m ediate p o p u la rity .28
Interestingly, one o f th e c u rre n t celebrities rep resen ted in th e in au g u
ral exhibition w as a d a n ce r at th e O pera, w earing the co stu m e of a recen t
role: A m idst a clu m p o f foliage, the catalogue explained, stan d s out
the p rim a ballerin a o f th e O pera, R osita M auri. She is show n in h er
costum e from the b allet in 'F ran o ise d e R im ini. ' 29 And ju s t as this
exhibit resem bled D egass scu lp tu re in its a m big u o u s realism , so it
recalled his p ain tin g D ancer on Stage, a roughly c o n tem p o rary im age
of R osita M auri d an cin g ag ain st a v erd an t back d ro p , in its su b jec t an d
setting.30 The parallels betw een his a rt and th a t of G rvin, w hom he
m entions in a letter of 1880,31 d o n o t end there. A nother of the m u se u m s
in augural exhibits, a S alon of F am ous P arisian s, p o rtra y e d a group
of artists a n d w riters, am o n g them Zola, Halvy, D audet, A lbert Wolff,
an d Dtaill, all of w hom Degas h ad know n previously o r m e t recently
in H alvys circle;32 an d from th em he m ay well have learn ed a b o u t the
m useum a t the tim e he w as creatin g his ow n tableau vivant.
To heighten its n atu ralism , Degas gave his Little Dancer, in a d d itio n
to the articles of clothing already m en tio n ed , real h air a n d braids. M ost
m o d ern w riters ignore th is fascin atin g detail, b u t H u y sm an s specified
th a t she h ad real h air . . . real tre sse s, an d Mrs. H avem eyer, too,
recalled th a t real h a ir w as h an g in g dow n h er back. . . . H ow w ooly th e
d ark h a ir a p p e a re d . 33 We even know th e u n u su al so u rce Degas d is
covered in his search for a su itab le m aterial, th ank s to the ad d ress of
a M m e C usset, su p p lier of h a ir for p u p p ets [or d o lls], in th e sam e
248
notebook as M arie Van G o eth en s a d d re s s.54 It w as only later, p ro b ab ly

w hen the w ork w as cast in bronze, th a t a thin lay er of w ax w as ap p lied
to th e h air an d braids, th o u g h Degas him self applied th e w ax to the
bodice and slippers. The n o teb o o k referen ce to a p u p p et m a n u fa c tu re r
is suggestive in a n o th er sense a n d p erh a p s o f a n o th e r source. It rem in d s
us th a t th e Little Dancer, a figurine a b o u t tw o-thirds life size, is itself
a kind of p u p p e t o r doll, as tw o of the critics seem to have sensed in
alluding to actual dolls.35 O r it is a kind of a rtists m an n eq u in like the
one, also slightly sm aller th an life yet distu rb in g ly lifelike, w hich lies
on th e floor beside the p a in te r M ichel-Levy in the p o rtra it Degas m ad e
of him aro u n d 1878 [91], sh o rtly before m ak in g th e sta tu e tte .36 T h at both
creatu res w ere su rro g ate fem ales, elegantly dressed yet literally "p u p
pets," "d u m m ie s, o r dolls, is an ad d itio n al link betw een them , one
th a t hints at a d eep er m eaning of the m o tif for Degas.
T hus the analogy w ith m a n n e q u in s a n d w axw ork figures holds on th e
m etap h o rical as well as th e technical level, as if the realism th a t o b
servers fo u n d frightening w ere also a form of surrealism . Indeed, it wras
the rich psychological poten tial o f su ch creatu res th a t th e S urrealists,
devotees of th e G revin M useum an d inventors o f stran g e dolls, re d is
covered. Long before them , how ever, Zola h ad m ad e the sam e discovery:
collecting m aterial for his novel L a d ies Delight in 1881, the very year
the Little D ancer w as exhibited, he w as stru ck by the bizarre eroticism
of the m eticulously d ressed yet h ead less du m m ies displayed in d e p a rt
m en t store w indow s. The headless m a n n eq u in s w earing corsets an d
slips, fiercely o b scen e,37 he observ ed in taking notes; an d in the novel
itself he developed the them e fu rth er: "The d u m m ie s ro u n d bosom s
sw elled o u t the m aterial, th eir am p le hips exaggerated th e n arro w n ess
of the w aists, . . . w hile m irro rs on eith e r side o f the w indow s, by a
d eliberate trick, reflected and m ultiplied th em e n d le ssly .. . . 38 N ot only
does this im age resem b le D egass draw in g of an E tru scan sarco p h ag u s
[160] in reco rd in g th e com plex play of light an d reflection on a glass
case; it is also sim ilar to th e Little D ancer in describ in g th e figure on
display, an d helps explain why th e latter, too, w as fo u n d so provocative
yet so fascinating.
249
163. Degas, The Apple Pickers, 1881. Bronze.

The Apple Pickers, th e only b as-relief Degas is know n to have m odeled,

has not survived in its original form . P reserved only as a sm all w ax
sketch o r replica [163], it w as originally executed in clay on a m uch
larger scale, b u t w as allow ed to dry a n d eventually to cru m b le .39 Two
of his friends recalled h aving seen it g radually d isin teg ratin g in his
studio. I saw a bas-relief by h im , R en o ir rem ark ed , w hich he allow ed
to crum ble into d u st; it w as as h a n d so m e as th e a n tiq u e . 40 And a c c o rd
ing to P.-A. Lem oisne, th e scu lp to r B artholom e re m em b ered seeing him
250
m akevery early, before 1870a large bas-relief, h alf life size, of young
girls picking ap ples; b u t the artist did n o th in g to preserve his w ork,
w hich late r fell literally into d u st. 41 The statem en t before 1870, a l
th o u g h m ad e m any years later, w hen B artholom w as over seventy, h as
nev er been q u estio n ed , and th e w ork h as th erefo re alw ays been d ated
ca. 1865. In fact, how ever, he could h ard ly have know n Degas at th at
tim e: born in 1848, Paul B arth o lo m sp e n t m any years in the provinces
studying law an d th en painting, and first exhibited in Paris at the S alon
o f 1879; it w as only then th a t he rep o rted ly cam e to D egass attention,
and the la tte rs earliest know n letter to him is of 1882.42
In an o th e r letter, p u b lish ed in a relatively little-know n Italian w ork,43
th ere is m ore reliable evidence th a t Degas m odeled th e clay version of
The Apple Pickers in the su m m e r of 1881. The le tte r is ad d ressed to his
cousin Lucie de Gas, w ho lived in N aples w ith h er guard ian , th e a rtists
sister T hrse M orbilli; an d though it is d a ted only M arch 16th, it m u st
have been w ritten in 1882. For, on the one h an d , it alludes to L ucics
re cen t trip to P aris w ith Thrse, w hich we know from the la tte rs
co rresp o n d en ce w as in the su m m e r o f 1881 ;44 an d on th e other, it refers
to the C assatts b u t does n o t m ention th e death of M arys sister Lydia,
w hich o ccu rred in N ovem ber 1882.45 A bout the relief, Degas w rites:
The bas-relief was very much neglected this winter. It was necessary to
produce pictures and other objects requested, without being able to touch
it other than with a syringe to keep the clay moistened. I have found a
young girl of your proportions, and 1 shall be able to use her instead of
you when I resume work on this difficult piece. I had found another young
girl, more youthful and boyish, whom I would have used in place of Anne,
and whom I have lost. She w'as living with her grandmother, who has died,
and she has been placed in an orphanage until she is eighteen. I shall have
difficulty in replacing her.
In ad d itio n to estab lish in g th e d ate of The Apple Pickers, this passage
m akes it clear that, fa r from being in different to its fate as B artholom
m aintained , Degas kep t th e clay m oist for m any m onths, fully in ten d in g
to resu m e w ork on it. If in fact he did not, it w as for m ore p ractical
reasons: he w as u n d e r c o n sta n t pressu re to p ro d u ce salable pictu res an d
fan sa them e th a t ru n s th ro u g h his co rresp o n d en ce in th ese years of
great financial difficulty;46 and h e w as u n a b le to find m odels of the sam e
ch aracter an d p ro p o rtio n s as those w ith w hich h e h ad b eg u n an in te r
251
esting insight into the im p o rtan ce he co n tin u ed to a ttach to w orking

from life, even at a tim e w hen his a rt w as becom ing m ore in d ep en d e n t
of it. From this passage, it is evident th at one of the fo u r girls in th e
relief w as m odeled on Lucie de G as,47 an d a n o th e r on a girl n a m e d Anne.
She w as pro b ab ly Anne Fevre, th e d au g h te r of D egass sister M arguerite,
w ho is also m entio n ed in the letter; sh e m u st have been a year o r tw o
younger th an Lucie, w ho w as fo u rteen at the tim e, an d in d eed Degas
describes the m odel h e h as found to rep lace Anne as m o re youthful
an d boyish. 48 B oth th e p resen ce of his cousin an d niece an d the su m
m er date suggest th a t th e relief w as conceived an d at least begun d u rin g
a holiday at th e co untry h o m e of one of D egass friends, som e o f w hom
he m entions elsew here in th e letter. This w ould, of course, also be
co n sisten t w ith its ru ra l subject.
Its su b ject m a tte r is fu rth e r clarified by tw o draw ings on single sheets
a n d several sketches in th e n o teb o o k of 1880-1884 m en tio n ed earlier.
Two ad d resses in this notebook, o f a d ealer in clay and a c arp en ter
for th e bas-relief fram e, are also related to The Apple Pickers.49 Of the
sketches, the m ost fully developed [164] show s the g roup of tw o girls
at th e right side; one is seated on a ch air an d th e o th e r on h e r lap, as
in th e w ax version, b u t the c o n tra st betw een th eir fo rm sone girl leaning
forw ard as if to rise, the o th er leaning b ack w ard as if to restra in h e ris
m ore p ro n o u n ced in th e wax, a n d th e m ovem ents o f th eir arm s are m ore
vigorous.50 As a result, th e p attern o f arm s a n d intervening spaces
becom es fa r m ore interesting. A nother n o teb o o k sketch [165] show s the
T.
164, 165.
Degas, Studies for
The Apple
Pickers, 1881.
Pencil.
Bibliothque
Nationale, Paris
252
166. Degas, Study for The Apple Pickers, 1881. Pencil.

167. Degas, Study for The Apple Pickers, 1881. Black crayon and pastel.
Collection of Mrs. Lester Avnet, New York
little boy on the left, w earing the sam e clothing as in th e surviving relief,
b u t here facing fully tow ard th e right an d reach in g up w ith his right
arm as if to pick an apple, ra th e r th a n stan d in g frontal, his h ead alone
in profile to th e right, in the em b ra ce of the girl w ho is seated beh in d
h im .51 For the la tte r th ere is no p rep ara to ry study, bu t for th e m o st
p ro m in en t figure, the girl in the cen te r w ho is seated on a low' w all or
ham m ock , eatin g an apple, th ere are tw o. In a ra p id ou tlin e sketch in
th e sam e no teb o o k [166], Degas studied the p ro p o rtio n s of h e r fo re
sh o rten ed to rso a n d lim bs, w hich are ingeniously d isp o sed to p ro d u ce
an active, open silhouette, an d above th e sketch he noted: W ith the
dividers. Six h ead s to the h em o f the sk irton th e foot in front. F our
[heads] from the m o u th to th e sole am id st the d ra p e ry [of the] foot
253
below . 52 In a m ore carefully re n d ere d draw in g on a larg er sheet [167],

he w orked out m an y d etails of h e r costum e, gestures, an d expression.53
They are n o t equally visible in th e su m m arily executed w ax version, b u t
presu m ab ly w ere in tro d u ce d into th e larger clay version, w hose degree
o f su rface finish m u st m ore nearly have resem b led th a t of th e Little
D ancer o f Fourteen Years.
In ad dition to these stu d ies fo r figures easily identified in th e ex tan t
form of the relief, th e re are several o th ers for a figure th a t w as evidently
in ten d ed for it and m ay even have a p p eared in its definitive form . They
show an ad olescen t boy clim bing a tree to pick fruit, a n d b o th this rural
m o tif an d th e presen ce o f som e o f these stu d ies am ong those already
d iscussed indicate his relation to it. In a b rief no teb o o k sketch [168],
he is sim ply show n stan d in g in a static position, fo r its p rin cip al p u rp o se
168. Degas, Study for The Apple Pickers, 1881. Pencil.

169. Degas, A Boy Climbing a Tree, ca. 1881. Charcoal.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville
254
w as to record his pro p o rtio n s, w^hich are m ark ed on his figure an d noted
below it: Five tetes d aune from the feet to th e n ap e o f th e n eck . 54
In a larger, m ore d etailed ch arcoal d raw ing [169], h e assu m es a m ore
active position, leaning fa r to the right an d reach in g u p w ith his right
h a n d to pick fru it.55 One of the m an y p en tim en ti depicts his right leg
vertical, ra th e r th an parallel to his o th er leg as in th e n o teb o o k sketch.
E vidently still dissatisfied w ith this arran g em en t, Degas re tu rn e d to the
notebook an d stu d ied the figure again, once in a m o re vigorous clim bing
posture, a n d once strad d lin g the tree tru n k w ith his legs; a n d he re
stu d ied the latter m o tif several tim es in an o th e r notebook, u sed co n c u r
rently w ith this o n e.56
By com bining several so u rces of inform ation, we can d eterm in e a p
proxim ately how' large th e original version o f The Apple Pickers was.
A ccording to B artholom e, w hose m em ory in this case w as p ro b ab ly
correct, th e figures w ere h alf life size.57 T heir actual dim ensions, or
ra th e r those of one of the m odels Degas used, p resu m ab ly for th e seated
girl in the center, are listed in th e sam e notebook as the studies fo r these
figures, as follows: W idth o f th e shoulders, 30 cm. From th e chin to
the crow n o f th e head, 18 cm. F rom th e knee (in th e m iddle) to the heel,
43 cm. From th e en d of th e sh o u ld e r to th e tips o f th e fingers, 61 cm.
From the g ro u n d to the elbow (the h anging arm ), 95 cm . 58 The p ro p o r
tions indicated by th ese d im en sio n s do in fact coincide w ith those in
th e m ore detailed d raw ing of this figure [167], alth o u g h one phrase,
"from the end of the sh o u ld er to the tips of the fingers, is difficult to
relate to th e draw ing. W hen B artholom e s sta te m e n t an d th e actual
dim ension s of one figure are c o m b in ed w ith th e p ro p o rtio n s seen in the
wax version o f th e relief, it becom es evident that the clay version wras
a b o u t 87 cm. high by 90 cm. wide, th a t is, a b o u t 35 by 36 inches. T hus
the sim plicity an d b rea d th o f the co m p o sitio n q ualities n o t easily ap
p reciated in th e sm all, roughly executed w axm u st have been en h an ced
by its physical size, an d th e effect m u st indeed have been as h an d so m e
as the a n tiq u e. 59
W hy did Degas u n d ertak e to m o d el a relatively large relief, his first
a tte m p t at this form of scu lp tu re, in th e su m m e r o f 1881? The favorable
reception of his Little D ancer o f Fourteen Years, at least am o n g som e
artists a n d w riters, a few m o n th s earlier m ay well h av e en co u rag ed him
255
to attem pt it, but can hardly have suggested this form. He m ight also
have learned, either from the artists them selves o r from m utual friends,
that two of the leading figures in contem porary French sculpture were
at th at tim e w orking on m onum ental reliefs: R odin on the colossal Gates
o f Hell, com m issioned in 1880, an d Dalou on the Fraternity an d Mirabeau
Replying to Dreux-Breze, both exhibited in 1883.60 Degas was personally
acquainted with both m en with R odin not before ca. 1890 perhaps, but
w ith Dalou m uch earlier, as is evident from his correspondence in 1875
and can be inferred from an address in the very notebook he used in
preparation for The Apple Pickers.61 However, m ore than the sophis
ticated, essentially pictorial com positions of Rodin and Dalou, the
roughly m odeled yet pow erful reliefs of Emigrants by Daumier, a
painter-sculptor like him self, w ould have appealed to Degas and stim u
lated him to undertake such a pro ject.62 A lthough executed m uch earlier,
they w'ere show n in the retrospective exhibition of D aum ier's work in
1878, w here Degas u ndoubtedly saw them , since he copied one of the
lithographs in the sam e exhibition.63 Even the m aterial of The Emigrants,
plaster tinted the color of clay, resem bled th at of his clay relief.
Probably of greater im portance in explaining D egass interest in relief
sculpture around 1880 is the developm ent w'ithin his own art at th a t time
of a relief-like conception of form. Unlike his pictures of the preceding
decade, w hose extrem e naturalism dem anded a deep, illusionistic space
and sm all figures set at unexpected intervals w ithin it, those of the 1880s
are often dom inated by a few large, advancing figures, w hose striking
surface pattern resem bles th at of a relief.64 It was evidently a conception
that he sought to realize in sculpture as well as in painting, for in
contrasting his ow n ideal of flatness w ith the conventional ideal of
illusory volume, he w rote: "A part from bas-relief itself, should not
sculpture be the only art able to give a sense of form , while deceiving
all the sam e as to relief? It is relief th at spoils everything, th at is m ost
deceptive, and that everyone believes in ."65 This new conception of form
was already evident in the Project fo r Portraits in a Frieze [170], w hich
he exhibited in 1879 and which, like The Apple Pickers, show s figures
in contem porary costum e silhouetted against a n eutral gro u n d .66 M ore
over, in the following year he sent to th e Im pressionist exhibition a w ork
whose friezelike design was even m ore explicit and, in this case, m ore
170. Degas, Project for Portraits in a Frieze, 1879. Black chalk and pastel.
Formerly collection of Mme David-Weill, Paris
ap p ro p riate to its classical su b ject. A lthough an an o m aly iconographically, the Young Spartan Girls Provoking the Boys, p ain ted in 1860, m ay
well have seem ed h arm o n io u s stylistically w ith the recen t w orks of
classicizing form th at he show ed w ith it, ju s t as it seem s in re tro sp ec t
to an n o u n c e The Apple Pickers, a n o th e r m o n u m en tal com position of
adolescent figures, th a t he began one y ear later.67 B oth th e fo rm al d e
sign and the playful, essentially bourgeois sp irit of D egass im age of
ap p le picking b ecom e m ore ap p a re n t w hen it is c o m p ared w ith those
p ain ted by P issarro at exactly the sam e tim e. In th e la tte rs Apple H ar
vest of ca. 1880 an d G athering o f Apples o f 1881, the figures are distinctly
p easan t types, for w hom th e fru it exists to be h arv ested ra th e r th an
eaten, an d w ho are set w ithin the o rc h a rd in a ran d o m , n atu ralistic
m a n n e r ra th e r th a n silh o u etted against a n eu tral b a ck g ro u n d .68
257
C oncurrently w ith the relief of rural genre inspiration, Degas w orked

on a figurine of an u rb an genre subject w hose m odel w as also an ad o
lescent girl, perhaps even one of those represented in the relief. Som e
tim es erroneously called Woman Walking in the Street, it shows a
schoolgirl carrying h er book bag and holding h er pigtails with the oth er
hand, w hich is behind her back, while leaning forw ard with her weight
on one leg, about to take a step [171, 172].69 The subject was evidently
a popular one at the time, at least in painting: Renoir h ad portrayed
his patron Paul B erards son as The Little Schoolboy holding his books
in 1879, and Guillaum in h ad exhibited a picture called The Schoolboy
171, 172. Degas, The Schoolgirl, ca. 1881. Bronze.

Detroit Institute of Arts, gift of Dr. and Mrs. George Kamperman
258
173, 174, 175.

Degas, Studies for The Schoolgirl,
ca. 1881. Pencil.
in the 1880 Im p ressio n ist sh o w .70 T h at D egass Schoolgirl is indeed

co n tem p o rary writh these w orks, ra th e r th a n d atin g from ca. 1910 as has
been suggested,71 is p roved by the presen ce o f studies for it in th e sam e
notebook as, an d actually in tersp ersed w ith, those for The Apple Pickers;
hence it, too, m u st have been plan n ed , if n ot com pletely finished, in the
su m m er o f 1881. To visualize th e figure in th e ro u n d , Degas drew it from
life from th ree p o in ts o f view: the fro n t [173], th e b ack [174], an d the
side [175].72 And unlike the relief, w hich in its e x tan t version show s m any
d ep artu re s from the p re p a ra to ry studies, the sta tu e tte follow s them in
alm ost all respects. In th e fro n t view, the co stu m e is slightly d ifferen t
the bodice is d rap ed m ore sim ply an d the skirt is so m ew h at sh o rte r in
the sc u lp tu re but th e only significant changes are seen in the back view,
w here the legs are sp read to su p p o rt th e b o d y s fo rw ard inclination,
ra th e r th a n crossed indolently as in the sketch, an d in th e side view,
w here the book bag is held at a rm s length, ra th e r th a n ag ain st the chest.
If D egas w as m o re c ertain from the beginning a b o u t th e final ap p ear-
259
ance of The Schoolgirl, it w as p ro b a b ly b ecause he h ad already re p re

sented sim ilar figures b o th in sc u lp tu re an d in painting. In m an y respects
it is a variation on the th en recently co m p leted Little Dancer o f Fourteen
Years, w hich likew ise d epicts an ad o lescen t girl as a fam iliar social type,
identified by h er co stu m e a n d accessories, an d c a p tu res a ch aracteristic
attitu d e of aw kw ard assertiv en ess largely th ro u g h th e rem ark a b le tilt
and th ru st of the h e a d .73 A lthough th e schoolgirl leans forw ard, shifting
h er w eight before taking a step, an d the young d a n c er leans b ack w ard
in an exaggerated p o stu re of rest, th e sim ilarities are u n m istak ab le. Even
th e u nusual m a n n e r in w hich th e schoolgirls left arm is b en t beh in d
h er back recalls th e d a n c e rs arm s h eld o u tstre tc h ed b eh in d h er back.
In fact M antz, in describ in g th e la tte rs aw k w ard posture, specifically
c o m p ared it w ith a schoolgirls artificial grace of a ttitu d e an d ru d e
inelegance.74
Still m ore closely related to The Schoolgirl th a n is the Little D ancer
are several pictu res o f a young w om an in street co stu m e th a t Degas
260
176.
Degas, Ellen Andre, ca. 1879.
Crayon lectrique.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, gift of Mrs. Imri de Vegh,
49.127.8
p ain ted or drew a b o u t 1880. One is an etching of the actress Ellen A ndre
[176], looking up from u n d e r h er large h a t w ith th e sam e assertive tilt
of h er head as in the statu ette, an d holding a book or sm all package
against h e r chest, exactly as in one o f the stu d ies for it.75 The Schoolgirl
is in fact so sim ilar to th e etching, even in the featu res an d expression
of th e face, th a t its m odel m ay well have been Ellen A ndre ra th e r th a n
one of D egas's cousins. A nother closely co n n ected im age is the pastel
W oman Wearing a Violet Dress a n d S tra w Hat, w hich show s virtually
the sam e figure, b u t in a differen t co stu m e and facing to the rig h t ra th e r
th a n the left.76 U nderlying b o th the etching and the pastel is a n o th e r
w ork, the slightly earlier Project fo r Portraits in a Frieze [170], w hich
Degas exhibited at the Im p ressio n ist show in 1879.77 The etching of Ellen
A ndre, in w hich th e figure ap p ears reversed, seem s in fact to have been
copied from the right side of this com position, w here Degas adroitly
ju x tap o ses th ree w om en in m o d e m dress in co n trastin g poses, as if they
w ere seen w aiting in line for a bus. T hus th e isolation of one of the
figures from th is group had alread y o ccu rred in tw o o th e r w orks before
it w as carried to a logical conclusion in the free-stan d in g statuette.
Is The Schoolgirl sim ply an outg ro w th o f these earlier pictures, o r does
261
it have specifically scu lp tu ral so u rces as well? As in th e case o f The Apple

Pickers, D aum ier com es to m ind first, fo r m any of his realistically m o d
eled genre figurines, them selves p lastic in te rp re tatio n s of tw o-dim en
sional im ages in his oeuvre, are sim ilar in conception an d style to
D egas's.78 H ow ever, the only one he could have seen at th e tim e was
the fam ous sta tu e tte of Ratapoil, an em p h atically caricatu ral w ork far
rem oved from The Schoolgirl both in its political co n ten t an d its flam
b o y an t fo rm s.79 C loser to the la tte r in spirit, an d also in th e ir pictorial
su rface treatm en t, are th e realistic genre sta tu ettes m o d eled by M edardo
R osso in th e early 1880s, som e of w hich m ad e use of fo u n d o bjects in a
m a n n e r rem in iscen t of the Little D ancer o f Fourteen Years. Thus, The
Kiss under the Lam ppost, a sm all gro u p of 1882, h ad a real light shining
in its m in iatu re lam ppost, and The U nem ployed Singer, also of th a t year,
h a d a real clay pipe in his m o u th .80 H ow ever, th e earliest of R ossos
surviving statu ette s w ere executed a year la ter th a n The Schoolgirl and
in M ilan, in an am b ien ce alto g eth er rem o v ed from D egas; it w as only
in 1884 th a t R osso first w en t to Paris and, th ro u g h H enri R o u art, p ro b a
bly m et h im .81 Yet the fact th a t R osso also m et D alou in th a t year, and
177.
Gauguin, The Little Parisian, 1879-1881. Terra
cotta.
262
even w orked as his assistan t, is significant of the affinities a m o n g all

th ree sculptors; for Dalou h ad in tu rn b een know n to Degas since the
early 1870s, at w hich tim e he w as already m aking genre statu ettes an d
group s th a t in m an y respects an ticip ated those m ade by the o th e r artists
a decade later. W idely know n th ro u g h th eir editions in terraco tta,
bronze, an d L im oges china, D alou's p o p u la r scu lp tu res of such subjects
as The Embroiderer, A Parisian Woman N ursing a Child, a n d The R eading
Lesson m ay well have inspired Degas to envisage co n tem p o rary genre
figures, chosen am o n g his h ab itu al them es, in three-dim ensional fo rm .82
B ut they w ould hai'dly have influenced his h andling of them , since
D alous charm ing, vaguely R ococo groups, w ith th eir m eticulously d e
tailed surfaces an d idealized features, lack th e u n co m p ro m isin g realism
and freely pictorial m odeling of D egass statu ette.
A ppropriately, the w ork w hich, m ore th an those ju st discussed, p ro b
ably decided Degas to convert his earlier im ages of Ellen A ndre into
plastic form w as in its turn in sp ired by those im ages; nam ely, G auguins
statu ette The Little Parisian [177],83 Show n at th e Im p ressio n ist exhibi
tion of 1881, w here Degas h im self displayed a sculpture, it can hardly
have escap ed his atten tio n , especially since G auguin w as by then v irtu
ally his protg an d ow ed his o p p o rtu n ity to a p p e a r w ith the Im p re s
sionists largely to his su p p o rt.84 In a recently p u b lish ed letter to Pissarro,
w ho ad m ired his statu ette, G auguin revealed how deeply all th ree artists
w ere in terested in sc u lp tu re at this m om ent: "D ecidedly, the craze for
scu lp tu re is grow ing. Degas, it seem s, is doing horses in sculpture, and
you are do in g cows. . . .85 Technically, of course, The Little Parisian
is m uch c ru d cr th an The Schoolgirl, p artic u la rly in the carved w ood
version th a t G auguin exhibited; and its p o stu re and p ro p o rtio n s, w hich
p ro m p ted H u y sm an s to d escrib e it as gothicly m o d e rn , are far m ore
rigid.86 Yet it is clearly based on th e Project fo r Portraits in a Frieze [170],
com bining featu res o f b o th Ellen A ndre at the rig h t and the unidentified
w om an at the left, w hose actio n of leaning on h er u m b re lla evidently
inspired th e unu su al p ositions of its arm s. A lthough its exact date is
unknow n, it m u st have been carved betw een 1879 a n d 1881, for in a
p o rtrait draw in g o f G auguin by Pissarro, w ith w hom he w as in closest
co n tact in th o se years, h e is show n w orking on it.87 H aving seen it in
the sp ring o f 1881, Degas m ay well have decided to m odel a sim ilar
263
statu ette of a young w om an in co n te m p o rary co stu m e and, w ith m ore

justification th an his follow er G auguin, to b ase it on a type he h ad
already re p resen te d so ingeniously in tw o -dim ensional im ages.
T hat Degas m ay have b een influenced by th e y o un g er an d less ex p eri
enced G auguin is n o t as im p ro b ab le as it first ap p ears. H e w as from
the beginning, and alw ays rem ain ed , one of the m o st loyal su p p o rters
of the la tte rs art, a n d w as also one of th e first to acq u ire exam ples o f
it for his collection; am o n g the p ictu res ex h ib ited by G auguin in 1881
w as one ow ned by D egas.88 And w hen, at th e Im p ressio n ist show of the
follow ing year, the yo u n g er a rtist exhibited a b u st of his three-year-old
son Clovis [178], a w ork w hose su b tlety of ch aracterizatio n an d realism
of su rface detail w ould n atu rally have ap p ealed to Degas, h e w as suffi
ciently im pressed to copy it in his n o teb o o k [179],89 E vidently done from
m em ory, his sketch differs from its m odel in a n u m b e r of details, b u t
178. Gauguin, Bust o f Clovis, ca. 1881. Polychromed wax and wood.
179. Degas, Copy after Gauguins Bust o f Clovis, 1882. Pencil.

JW
264
its relation to it is unm istakable. So, too, is the significance of th a t work

for his own sculpture, although this becam e evident only two years later,
w hen he him self attem p ted to m odel a portrait bust. On the o th er hand,
G auguins choice of painted wax for the head o f Clovisthe torso is of
carved w oodw as unp reced en ted in his oeuvre and clearly recalled
Degass use of th at m edium in the Little Dancer o f Fourteen Years. In
fact H uvsm ans, the critic to whom G auguin was then m ost responsive,
had w ritten of it: "Taking up again . . . the technique of painted wax,
M. Degas has discovered one of the only m ethods suitable to the sculp
ture of our tim e,90 and this alone w ould have been a sufficient incentive
for G auguin to take it up.
In t h e s u m m e r of 1884, while staying with the Valpinôn fam ily in
N orm andy, Degas was p ersuaded to m odel a po rtrait bust of their
d aughter H ortense. Like The Apple Pickers, then, it was an occasional
piece, conceived at first as a kind of distraction during a vacation in the
country, and inspired by the presence of a young w om an w hom he had
long know nin this case, the d au g h ter of an old friend, Paul Valpingon.91
Moreover, like the earlier w ork it was executed in clay, this tim e with
sm all pebbles added, an d despite D egass efforts it eventually crum bled
and disappeared, the process here having been hastened by his d is
astrous attem p t to cast the finished bust in plaster. From the beginning,
he had struggled with the technical problem s involved, lam enting in
som e of his letters his lack of experience and expert knowledge: One
tells oneself in vain that with innocence one will accom plish everything;
one succeeds perhaps, b u t so sloppily. . . . In a word, one only am uses
oneself with things one cannot do, if one is as ill-balanced as I am .92
In expressing this nostalgia for the certainty of traditional m eth o d san
increasingly fam iliar them e in his later years, as we shall see in C hapter
VIIDegas chose to ignore the equally fam iliar values of intuition and
experim entation, which had already inspired som e of his m ost original
w orks and, precisely in the developm ent of this one, had led him to
transform a sim ple p o rtrait bu st into an am bitious half-length figure with
arm s.
Although the Bust o f Hortense Valpingon has not survived, its ap p e ar
ance is know n from the unusually detailed account of its progress that
180.
Degas, Ilortense Valpingon,

1883. Black crayon.

New York, bequest of Walter
C. Baker
D egas gave his c o rre sp o n d e n tspartly to explain his co n tin u ed ab sen ce

from Paris in the au tu m n o f 1884and from a m em o ir given by the sitter
herself to an art histo rian m an y years late r.93 T here are also tw o carefully
draw n p o rtraits of H o rten se in profile to th e left, on w hich Degas m ay
have relied in m odeling th e bust, since he felt a p a rtic u la r obligation
to m ake it a good likeness. "The in terest show n m e strongly resem bles
m alig n an t curiosity," he w rote, only h alf in jest, of h er fam ily, "an d this
results in a fan atic effort on m y p a rt to o b tain a likeness an d even
som ething m o re ."94 The first of these d raw ings [180], now in th e M etro
p olitan M useum , is a rem ark ab ly sober, p en etratin g stu d y in th e spirit
of H olbein, w hich Degas la te r ch erish ed an d h u n g in his b ed ro o m .95 It
is inscribed H ortense, M enil-H ubert, A ugust 1883, an d th e sitte r h erself
p laced the creation o f th e b u st in th a t year; yet the evidence o f D egass
letters points unm istak ab ly to th e follow ing year. C onceivably he in-
181.
Degas, Letter to Paul Bartholome,
October 3, 1884. Holograph.
scribed the d raw ing in accu rately w hen he gave it to h e r tw enty years
la ter,96 an d this in tu rn influenced h er m em ory of th e event; b u t the
form and c o n ten t of th e in scrip tio n suggest th a t it is co n tem p o rary w ith
th e im age. H ence it is m ore likely th a t he retu rn ed to the earlier draw ings
w hen he began m odeling h e r profile in th e su m m er of 1884. Of th e entire
w ork, there is only a ra p id sketch [181], illustrating a passage in one
of his letters d escribing its d ev elo p m en t.97
From these sources, we learn th a t th e b u st changed considerably
as Degas, follow ing a p a tte rn fam iliar en ough in his draw in g s an d p a s
tels, co n tin u ed to revise an d expand it. As H o rten se recalled, H e began
as he began his sketches, w ith o u t know ing exactly w here he w as going.
From the sim ple h ead w ith w hich he began, he m ad e a b u st an d finally
th a t large, life-size sc u lp tu re term in atin g above the k n ees.98 In choosing
th at u n u su a l term in u san d it is clearly indicated in his sk etch Degas
m ay well have had in m ind the analogous solution fo u n d by G auguin
for his B ust o f Clovis, a w ork th a t had earlier attra c te d his attention.
Also rem in iscen t of th e la tte r is the sloping vertical axis of D egass
sculpture, a featu re o f G au g u in s to w hich he w as evidently responsive,
To Make Sculpture Modern
267
since he exaggerated it in reproducing it from m em ory. The effect of

this tilted axis in expressing a m ood of pensive w ithdraw al can be
judged, m ore clearly than in his rap id sketch, in a p o rtrait Degas painted
two years later of Hlne R ouart [100], an o th er young w om an whose
father was am ong his closest frie n d s." Significantly, the ch air against
which she leans serves to in terru p t her figure, too, at a point below the
waist, so that its u p p er p art can in fact be seen as a reflection of the Bust
o f Hortense Valpinqon and as a fulfillment of its frustrated am bitions.
One striking feature of both w orks th at obviously ow'ed nothing to
G auguin w as the p ro m in en t role given to the arm s. Yet it was the one
that Degas him self m entioned repeatedly in describing the bust. I sw ear
to you that it is a b u st w ith a rm s, he w rote to Halvy, as if anticipating
disbelief; a large b ust with arm s, . . . w hich I am finishing very p a
tiently, he wrote to Rouart, alm ost in disbelief him self.100 And in the letter
to B artholom containing a sketch of it, he gave th e fullest, m ost ironic
description: There are two arm s, I have told you; let it suffice for you
to know also that, naturally, one of them , the one w hose hand is visible,
is behind the back. I am also the only one, perhaps, to w hom this seem s
quite all rig h t."101 Here, too, he evidently had in m ind one of his earlier
w orks, the statuette of a schoolgirl [175], w here the sam e m otifone
arm hanging at the figure's side, the h and concealed, th e oth er bent
behind its back, the h and exposedwas em ployed, though the positions
of the arm s were reversed. It is also possible, though Degas does not
m ention this, th at the hand behind the back held the girls pigtails, as
in the figurine. If so, this w ould have been one m ore link betw een the
am bitious sculptural pro ject of 1884 and those of the beginning of the
decade.
A ppropriately, in the sam e year G auguin produced a sculpture that
in its tu rn was based on paintings by Degas. Two of the reliefs decorating
his carved wood box of 1884 [182, 183] contain figures copied from those
in the older artists pictures of the b allet.102 The Rehearsal o f a Ballet
on Stage, now in the M etropolitan M useum, has been cited as a source
for the dancers on the front panel, but in m any respects they correspond
m ore closely to an o th er version of the Rehearsal, now in the Louvre
[184],103 Those on the top p anel were derived from still o th er ballet
pictures by D egas.104 But in this panel there are several m otifs, separated
268
from the d an cers by an irreg u lar form suggestive of a stage flat, th a t

seem entirely u n related to th e ballet: a series of spherical form s ag ainst
a striated b ack g ro u n d , a seated w om an w ith heavily m odeled b reasts,
and a m ask said to re p resen t D egas.105
Even if th a t identification is correct, these am b ig u o u s and strangelyju x tap o sed m otifs in tro d u ce an elem en t of fan tasy th a t has little in
com m on w ith the so b er o b jectivity of D egass art. In fact, th e spherical
form s m ay be sm all, floating heads, based on those often found in
R ed o n s visionary art, for exam ple in th e cover an d frontispiece for the
portfolio The Origins, p u b lished in 1883.106 In this very p an el partly
inspired by Degas, then, G auguin began to tu rn aw ay from th e N a tu
ralism th a t he h ad largely identified w ith th e o ld er m a ste r a n d to w ard
182,183. Gauguin, Box with Carved Reliefs, 1884, top and front views. Wood.
Collection of Halfdan Nobel Roede, Oslo
184. Degas, Rehearsal o f a Ballet on Stage, 1874. Peinture l essence on

canvas.
th e Sym bolism th a t w as ev entually to d o m in ate his art. A lthough this

is n o t the last exam ple in his scu lp tu ral oeuvre o f borro w in g from
D egasthe half-length figure of a w o m an w ith w hich he d eco rated a
ceram ic vase a ro u n d 1886 is clearly b ased on one o f D egass d an c
e r s 107it has rightly been called th e first exam ple o f the in tro d u ctio n
of sym bolic in ten t into the w orks of G au g u in , 108 an d as such it m arks
the end of that period o f su stain ed a n d fru itfu l m u tu a l influence w hich
characterizes th eir sc u lp tu re of the early 1880s.
VII
The Artist
as Technician
I n his attitu d e tow ard th e technical asp ects o f his art, Degas w as at
once m ore rad ical an d m o re conservative th a n any m a jo r a rtist of his
g eneration. W hile o th er R ealists an d Im p ressio n ists w ere largely con ten t
to em ploy th e conventional tech n iq u es of E u ro p ean art, even as they
b ro u g h t ab o u t far-reaching ch an g es in its c o n ten t a n d form al structu re,
he experim en ted co n stan tly w ith m aterials an d m eth o d s w hose novelty
w ould m atch th a t of his vision of m o d ern life. B ut on th e o th er hand,
w hile his colleagues accepted the lim itations of the relatively sim ple
techniques they used, enjoying th e sp o n tan eity of expression these
afforded, he longed for th e virtuosity an d m ystery he asso ciated with
the m ore com plex m eth o d s of th e old m asters, blam ing th eir loss on
th e shallow m aterialism of his age. He could delight in th e search for
new p ro ced u res an d rem ark w ith disdain, w hen told of a n o th e r a rtists
satisfaction at having fo u n d his m ethod, F o rtu nately for me, I have
not found m y m ethod; th a t w ould only bore m e. 1 B ut he could also
d esp air of his ignorance, assertin g to the young R ouault, ap ro p o s the
supposed an arch y of m o d ern art and th e ad m irab le tech n iq u e o f the
old m asters, We shall have to b eco m e slaves ag ain . '2
U nderlying these c o n trad ictio n s in D egas's a ttitu d e w as a m ore fu n
d am en tal c o n trad ictio n in his creative personality. In ad d itio n to the
a rtist and th e w riter, th ere w as in him som eth in g of the a m a te u r scientist
and inventor, w ho d rew on th e progressive cu rren ts in his cu ltu re to
achieve som e rem ark ab le inn o v atio n s in artistic tech n iq u e. Yet th ere w as
also som eth in g of th e d isen ch an ted d re a m e r an d reactio n ary , w ho re
g retted the d isa p p e a ra n c e of tim e-h o n o red m eth o d s an d who, despite
the expert advice of friends, allow ed m an y o f his w orks to be disfigured
o r ru in ed by a cu rio u s indifference to m aterial req u irem en ts.
270
The Artist as Technician
271
Both the positive and the negative elem ents in this attitude have been
discussed in Denis R o u arts pioneering m onograph Degas in Search o f
His Technique,3 but w ith o u t sufficient attention to the strong convictions
and prejudices reflected in them . Thus, the explanation of Degass nos
talgia for the so-called secrets of the m asters seem s to accept his ow n
explanation too readily, failing to ask w hether the loss was felt as keenly
by m any of his Im pressionist colleagues, som e of w hom w ere as deeply
interested in earlier art, or w hether it was felt a t all by m any of his
conservative colleagues, w ho continued to in stru ct their stu d en ts in the
use of old-fashioned procedures. M oreover, in the thirty years since that
study was published, m uch has been learned from m ore detailed inves
tigations of the artist's notebooks, sculptures, draw ings, m onotypes, and
prints, all of which, w hen supplem ented by R o u arts fine observations,
provide a fuller un d erstan d in g of this com plex subject.
L e t u s b e g i n w ith the am ateu r scientist and inventor in Degas, since
it is his rem arkable achievem ent th at m akes the w hole question w orth
discussing and at the sam e tim e requires m ost explanation. His attitude
was one of endless curiosity ab o u t the m ethods he em ployed an d of
boundless enthusiasm for the novel results he obtained. Thus, his friend
M arcellin D esboutin, describing D egass recent experim ents with p rin t
ing m onotypes from zinc and copper plates, w rote in July 1876: He
is up to the m etallurgical phase in the reproduction of his designs by
m eans of a printer's roller, and is ru nning all over Parisin this h eatto
search out the industrial enterprise relevant to his obsession. It is alto
gether poetic!4 And Degas him self, proposing to Pissarro a new m ethod
o f tinting etchings th at m ade use of w ood blocks and copper stencils,
w rote in 1880: "One could m ake som e nice experim ents with original
and unusually colored p rin ts .. . . I shall send you soon som e of m y own
attem pts of this kind. It w ould be econom ical and novel.5 C harac
teristically, he was far ahead of his tim e in this proposal, anticipating
by m ore than a decade G auguins unorthodox use of stencils in printing
color w oodcuts. Indeed, while Desboutin, Pissarro, and m ost of their
Im pressionist colleagues were w orking w ith conventional techniques,
Degas was converting his studio into a kind of attic laboratory in which
he could experim ent with altogether new ones, although som e of his
colleagues took up his innovations and carried them fu rth er.6
272
Degas: The A rtists Mind.
It is som etim es said th a t he w as forced to d o this b ecau se the recipes

and p ro ce d u re s th a t h a d form erly been h a n d e d dow n fro m m a ste r to
pupil had d isa p p e ared a t th e tim e of th e F ren ch R evolution; an d he
him self says as m u ch in a co n v ersatio n rep o rted by G eorges Je a n n io t.7
A ctually, th ere w as n o su ch d ram atic b reakd o w n of the stu d io trad itio n ,
a n d well into the n in eteen th cen tu ry conservative artists c o n tin u ed to
stu d y an d em ploy R en aissan ce tech n iq u es. Degas h im self w as train ed
by disciples of In g res w ho used th em in th e ir attem p t to create a m o n u
m ental religious a rt like th a t o f th e past, and w ith a few exceptions he
follow ed th e ir m eth o d s, at least in oil p ain tin g an d draw ing, d u rin g th e
first d ecad e of his career. N or did he a b a n d o n th em a lto g eth er d u rin g
the second decade, even th o u g h he w as by th en exploring b o th the
m o d ern u rb a n th em es an d th e novel co m po sitio n s th a t ch aracterize his
m atu re art. Som e of his m o st original pictu res, such as A W om an w ith
C hrysanthem um s [36] an d S u lkin g [83], w ere p ain ted in those years in
a conventional oil technique, a very so b er tech n iq u e of unifo rm ly thin,
flat strokes w hose su rface displays th a t sm o o th n ess w hich h e d escrib ed
as le dem i-plein m inceliterally, the thin h alf-fullan d w hich h e later
expressed ad m ira tio n fo r in th e w ork of Ingres a n d o th e r m a ste rs.8 It
w as only in the th ird decad e o f his career, betw een 1875 a n d 1885, th a t
the iconog rap h ic and stylistic inn o v atio n s h e h a d achieved in w orks like
these w ere acco m p an ied by equally d arin g in n o v atio n s in m aterial o r
m ethod.
W hat seem s really to have m otiv ated Degas w as so m eth in g m ore
fu n d a m e n ta la fascin atio n w ith the tech n ical as such. H e lived in a
period of ra p id scientific a n d technological progress, w hen th e ex p eri
m en tal m eth o d w as w idely reg ard ed as a m odel lo r intellectual achieve
m e n t,9 n o t only in th e critical essays of Taine a n d his follow ers, b u t in
th e novels o f the G o n co u rt b ro th ers, Zola, an d o th e r N atu ralist w riters
w ith w hom , as we saw in C h ap ter IV, Degas w as well acq u ain ted . H ence
it w as logical for him to apply th e sam e m eth o d to his ow n practice,
o r at least to invest th e la tte r w ith a n a p p ea ra n c e of m odernity, how ever
far from strict em p iricism his p ractice actually w as. One of his closest
friends, H en ri R ouart, w as an in v en to r a n d m etallu rg ical engineer,
w hose circle consisted o f o th e r engineers, in d u strialists, a n d artillery
officers, an d as Jacq u es-E m ile B lanche p o in ts out, T hese gentlem en
w ere accu sto m ed to p recision; th ey w ere specialists w hose technical
273
language, scientific knowledge, and sense of o rd er and discipline pleased

M. Degas greatly. 10 All expressions of a specialized know ledge or skill
seem to have interested him, as they did the w riters and critics with
w hom he discussed art at the Caf Guerbois. W hen he painted lau n
dresses in their shops or dancers in their practice room s, he observed
their characteristic gestures and habits of speech, and later surprised
E dm ond de G oncourt, him self a connoisseur of the precise word, by
show ing him pictures of these women, while speaking their language,
explaining to us in technical term s the applied stroke of the iron, the
circular stroke, etc. . . . And it is really very am using to w atch him on
the tips of his toes, his arm s rounded, com bine with the aesthetic of
the ballet m aster the aesthetic of the p ain ter.11 Many years later, the
m aster founder Palazzolo was equally surprised to find the aged Degas
m aking long trips to visit the foundry w here som e of his statuettes were
being cast, not in o rd er to supervise the work, but sim ply to observe
professionals engaged in their tasks, to ask th eir advice a b o u t technical
problem sin short, to en te r their expert, specialized w o rld .12
N othing reveals Degass fascination w ith the purely m aterial aspects
of his art m ore clearly than the recipes and projects scattered through
his notebooks, som e of th em evidently recording practical advice given
by colleagues, others m ore theoretical and even unrealizable, like m any
of those in L eonardo's notebooks. A round 1879, a period of very active
interest in graphic m ethods for his projected m agazine Le J o u ret la Nuit,
he m ade detailed notes on the laying dow n of an aquatint, notes p ro b a
bly based on discussions w ith Flix B racquem ond, with w hom he c o rre
sponded about this subject at the tim e.13 A few years earlier, he h ad
recorded m any oth er observations and recipes for printm aking, in term s
th a t once again show a delight in professional parlance: L avender oil
dissolves tran sfer ink b etter th an tu rp e n tin e .. . . On a zinc plate tran sfer
an engraving im pregnated with copper sulphate. By subm erging it lightly
in a bath of hydrochloric acid, one obtains a copperplate engraving. . . .
On a silvered plate (daguerreotype) apply an engraving im pregnated with
(and w iped dry of) gold chloride. Pass through a press. The result is
a plate dam ascened in reverse. . . . 14
In reading these im personal form ulas, devoted solely to the m astery
of a difficult procedure, we are rem inded of Valrys conclusion th at art,
for him, w as sim ply a series of problem s in a m ore subtle kind of
274
m ath em atics th an th e real one. . . . H e w ould say a p ictu re is the result

of a series o f operations.15 N or can we im agine as th eir a u th o r any o th er
artist in th e Im p ressio n ist group; even R enoir a n d Pissarro, both of
w hom w ere soon to seek alternatives to th e intuitive, sp o n tan eo u s
m eth o d s they h a d previously em ployed, the one tu rn in g b ack to tra d i
tional a rt in a re actio n ary spirit th a t resem b led the la te r D egass,16 the
o th e r tem porarily ad o p tin g th e rigorous process an d scientific interests
of N eo-Im pressionism , nev er p u rsu ed th eir respective studies so in ten
sively. M oreover, the advice Degas reco rd ed in his n o tebooks w as g en
erally given by colleagues w ho, th a n k s largely to his ow n advocacy,
som etim es exhibited w ith th e Im p ressio n ists, bu t w hose w ork sharply
distinguish ed them from the latter; a b o u t a q u atin d n g , for exam ple, he
learned from B racq u em o n d , a b o u t the m o n o ty p e from L udovic L epic.17
And the technical discu ssio n s he so m u ch en joyed w ere usually with
artists outsid e Im pressionism , su ch as Jean n io t, Luigi Chialiva, an d
H enri R ouart.
To a p p r e c i a t e th e extent to w hich D egas's lifelong search for technical
m astery an d in n ovation m an ifested itself in his art, we m u st exam ine
in greater detail his uses of specific m aterials an d m edia. D enis R ouart
and others have d escrib ed the rem a rk a b le n u m b e r of w ays in w hich he
w orked in pastel, a trad itio n ally m in o r m edium th at he endow ed w ith
th e versatility an d pow er of a m a jo r one, an d at a tim e w hen n o one
else w as doing th is.18 If his early pastels, su ch as The Ballet Rehearsal
on Stage [185] in the M etropolitan M useum , are sm o o th an d highly
finished, in the m a n n e r of La Tour an d o th er eig h teen th -ccn tu ry m asters
w hom he ad m ired , those of the 1880s, su ch as The Toilette [186], also
185. Degas, The Ballet Rehearsal on

Stage, 1872-1874, detail. Pastel.
The H. O. Havemeyer Collection, bequest
of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 29.100.39
186. Degas, The Toilette, ca. 1885. Pastel.

The H. O. Havemeyer Collection, bequest
of Mrs. H. 0. Havemeyer, 29.100.35
187. Degas, Dancers in the Wings, ca. 1896, detail. Pastel.

Formerly collection of Franz Koenigs, Haarlem
188. Degas, Dancer with a Fan, ca. 1879, detail. Pastel.

Private collection, courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts
in the M useum , are ro u g h er in texture and m o re vigorously executed,

w ith strokes of vividly c o n traste d color o v erlapping each o th er to create
a flickering su rface not unlike th a t in co n tem p o rary pain tin g s by M onet
and P issarro .19 In the late pastels, such as Dancers in the Wings [1871,
these overlapping layers of chalk are heavier in su b sta n c e an d even m ore
brilliant in hue, yet they are p rev en ted from sm udging by m eans of a
fixative given to Degas by Chialiva, one w hose com position w as su p p o s
edly so secreta n d how this aspect, too, m u st have delighted h im th a t
it could nev er be d u p lic ated .20 R ecent research, how ever, has indicated
th a t this fixative m ay sim ply have been w hite shellac dissolved in p u re
m ethyl alcohol, an d could th erefo re have b een d u p licated w ith o u t
difficulty.21 Previously, Degas h im self h ad devised an ingenious m eth o d
of blow ing steam over th e initial layers of a pastel, eith er to dissolve
them into a vap o ro u s film th a t w ould seem to float on th e surface or,
on the con trary , to m elt th em into a p aste th a t could th e n be rew orked
w ith visible strokes of th e bru sh , as in the back g rou nd o f Dancer w ith
277
a Fan [188].22 B ut w h e th e r he w ent so far as to use th e "p astel-so ap

th a t he m entions in a n o teb o o k of a b o u t 1880"m ixtures of w ater-soluble
colors with glycerine a n d soda; one could m ake a p astel-soap; p otash
in stead of so d a we do n o t kno w .23
E ven in oil painting, p erh ap s th e m ost conventional o f th e m edia he
em ployed, Degas ex p erim en ted w ith a n u m b e r o f u n u su al p ro ced u res
an d pictorial effects. A lthough his early w orks are on the w hole ra th e r
straightforw ard technically, th ere arc am o n g th em p re p ara to ry studies
for larger com positions, su ch as the one [189] for The Young Spartan
Girls P rovoking the Boys, w hich are p ain ted in oil colors on a sheet of
previously oiled pap er, so th a t the b ru sh w ould slide m o re sw iftly"w ith
ease and delight," as h e rep o rted ly used to say .24 Later, w hile co ntinuing
to use this m eth o d occasionally, he also discovered a m ean s of o b taining
the opposite effect, equally sm ooth bu t dry an d chalky, w ith o u t sacri
ficing ease of execution; th is he did by soaking th e oil ou t of th e colors,
diluting them w ith tu rp e n tin e hen ce th e n am e peinture a essenceand
applying them to a m atte surface, as in th e fam ous Dancers at the Bar
[190] in the M etropolitan M useum .25 And to w ard the en d of his life,
w hen his ap p ro a c h w as in general becom ing m u ch bolder, he em ployed
the brush w ith e x trao rd in ary freedom and inventiveness, sp read in g
189.
Degas, Study for The
Young Spartan Girls
Provoking the Boys,
1860. Oil on paper.
Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge, 1927.62, gift
of Mrs. Albert D.
Lasker
278
Degas: The Artist's M ind
ra th e r dry p a in t in sw irling rh y th m s rem in iscen t of chalk ra th e r th an

oil strokes, as in Scene fro m a Ballet [191]; or he ab a n d o n ed th e b ru sh
altogether a n d d ab b e d on p ain t in heavy m asses w ith a rag o r his fingers,
th u s suggesting in an easel p ictu re som eth in g of th e ro u g h n ess and
strength o f a frescoed wall, as in The Bath [192],26 A ccording to the
d ealer A m broise Vollard, he h ad alw ays w an ted to p ain t an actual fresco
like those he ad m ired in R enaissance art: All m y life I have d ream ed
of p ainting on walls. . . . 27
In view of th e g reat im p o rtan ce Degas attac h ed to draw ing, it is
surp risin g th a t he rarely ex p erim en ted in it w ith new techniques, except
of course in pastel, w hich is as m u ch a form of painting. This w as
pro b ab ly because, like L eo n ard o da Vinci, he conceived of d raw ing as
an in stru m e n t of th o u g h t an d in tim ate expression, in w hich m a n ip u
lation for artistic effect w ould be un n ecessary o r in ap p ro p ria te. From the
beginning, how ever, he did delight in exploring the trad itio n al m eth o d s
of draw ing an d in co m b in in g th em in u n u su a l w ays. Close exam ination
190.
Degas, Dancers
at the Bar,
1876-1877,
detail. Peinture
l essence on
canvas.
Metropolitan
Museum of An,
New York, The
H. O. Havemeyer Collec
tion, bequest of
Mrs. H. O.
Havemeyer,
29.100.34
191 .
D egas, S c e n e fr o m
a B allet, ca. 1888,
d e ta il. Oil o n
c a n v a s.
Form erly collection
of M ouradian and
Vallotton, Paris
192.
D egas, T he B ath,
ca. 1890, d etail.
Oil o n c a n v a s.
M useum of Art,
C arnegie Institute,
Pittsburgh
280
of a p rep a ra to ry study [193] for his first m ajo r com position, Dante and
Virgil of ca. 1857, show s that, d espite its sim ple ap p earan ce, h e used
pencil an d sanguine for th e figures an d black chalk and w ash for the
b ack g ro u n d .28 And in a stu d y [194] for The M isfortunes o f the City o f
O rleans [146], he seem s to have analyzed th e stru c tu re of a figure by
outlining its u n clo th ed form s in san g u in e an d su p erim p o sin g its costum e
in pencil w ith w hite chalk accents, th e differences in color c o rresp o n d in g
to different levels o f visibility.29 L ater he co n tin u ed to exploit the
ch ro m atic co n trasts betw een m edia, o ften choosing a sheet o f tin ted
p ap er to begin w ith. The pow erfully realistic draw ing o f a young w om an
on a sofa [195], in the M etropolitan M useum , fo r exam ple, com bines
193. Degas, Study for Dante and Virgil, 1857-1858, detail. Pencil, sanguine,
black chalk, and wash.
Formerly collection of Mr. and Mrs. Norton Simon, Los Angeles
194. Degas, Study for The Misfortunes of the City o f Orleans, 1864-1865.
Sanguine, pencil, and white chalk.
Otaki
195. Degas, A Woman on a Sofa, 1875. Oil and pastel on paper.

196.
Degas, The Ballet Master,
1875-1877. Pencil, black ink,
watercolor, and oil.
Art Institute of Chicago, gift of
Robert Sonnenschein II,
1951.110b
tra n sp a re n t an d o p aq u e peinture i Iessence an d d elicate p astel on a

rose-beige p ap er; an d th a t o f a ballet m a ster seen from beh in d [196],
w hich is m o re com plex in technique, w as begun in pencil, rew o rk ed in
pen and ink, sh ad ed in w atercolor o r gouache, an d finally revised in
d iluted oil p a in t.30 In th e 1890s, Degas also developed tw o unusual, if
not novel, m eth o d s of correctin g his ch arco al and p astel draw ings m ore
easily: by pulling c o u n te rp ro o fs of them on heavy, d am p en ed p aper, or
by tracing th eir o utlines o n thin, tra n sp a re n t paper, th en in each case
beginning anew . H ence th o se gro u p s of virtually identical, b u t reversed
or slightly enlarged, draw ings th a t a re so ch aracteristic of his late w ork.31
Ironically, in view of his c o n tem p t for th e Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he
learned of th e tracing m eth o d from a stu d e n t of arch itec tu re th ere, w here
it had long been sta n d a rd p ractice.32
In the decad e 1875-1885, p ro b ab ly the m ost creative p h ase of his
283
technical ex perim en tatio n , Degas b egan in his pain ting s an d p astels to

com bine d ifferent m edia, as he h a d d o n e previously only in his draw ings.
The ad vantages w ere tw ofold: h e could in crease th e variety o f re p re
sented textures, w ith o u t ab an d o n in g his prin cip le of sm ooth, flat p a in t
ing; a n d som ethin g th a t w as alw ays im p o rta n t a n d th at p ro b ab ly ac
co u n ts for his predilection for pastels, m onotypes, a n d wax scu lp tu re he
could pro lo n g indefinitely th e process of revision, since each p h ase of
the process w as u n d e rta k e n in a differen t m edium . Denis R o u art has
described in detail this use of p astel co m bined w ith o th er m edia. In A t
the Caf-Concert: The S o n g o f the Dog [197], for exam ple, Degas co n
trasted the sm oothly m odeled arm s and face o f the figure, d raw n in
pastel, w ith th e m o ttled form s of th e foliage b eh in d her, p ain ted in
g o u ach e.33 In the technically m ore com plex Dancers b ehind a Stage Flat
[198], he evidently drew the w hole in pastel, rew orked th e floor an d stage
197. Degas, At the Caf-Concert: The Song o f the Dog, 1875-1877, detail.
Pastel and gouache.
Collection of Mrs. Horace Havemeyer, New York
198. Degas, Dancers behind a Stage Flat, ca. 1880, detail. Pastel and
tempera.
Estate of Mrs. Harriet H. Jonas
284
199. Degas, Fan: Dancers, ca. 1879. Oil, gouache, pastel, silver, and gold
on silk.
Collection of Mrs. W. Hilding Lindberg, Tacoma
flat in pow dered pastel d iluted w ith w ater, an d accented the b ackground
foliage and the d a n c e rs flowers in tem p e ra o r gouache, th u s attain in g
a rem ark ab le diversity of tex tu re.34 And in th e Fan: D ancers [199] an d
sim ilar fans, he achieved a virtu al to u r de force by using pastel, gouache,
a n d peinture l e ssence to establish the form s, a d d in g gold an d silver
p ain t to th e costum es an d dcor, an d finally sprinkling on flecks of gold
leaf in a m a n n e r rem in iscen t of Ja p an e se surim o n o prints, so th a t the
surfaces them selves w ould suggest th e b rillian t artificiality of the th e a
ters in w hich such fans w ere m ean t to be u se d .35
The unconv en tio n ality of this m ixing o f m ed ia w as already ap p reciated
d uring D egas's lifetim e. In an article p u b lish ed in 1890, G eorge M oore
observed, p resu m ab ly ap ro p o s th e M etropolitan M u seu m s R ehearsal o f
a Ballet on Stage [200], w hich w as th en in an E nglish collection, T here
are exam ples e x tan t o f p ictu res b egun in w ater color, co n tin u ed in
gouache, an d afterw ard s com pleted in oils; a n d if th e p ictu re be ex am
ined carefully it will be found th a t th e finishing h a n d h as been given
w ith pen an d in k .36 In fact, the pen draw in g on pap er, la te r m o u n ted
on can v asm u st have com e first, for as recen t research has show n, the
285
picture w as su b m itted in th at state to th e Illustrated L o n d o n Mews, an d

only after it w as rejected for p u b licatio n w as it entirely rew orked in the
sem i-tran sp a ren t m edia of peinture a essence, w atercolor, an d p astel.37
It w as also in the 1870s th a t Degas b eg an to com bine several tech
n iques in his grap h ic w orks an d scu lp tu re. If his p rin ts of th e previous
d ecade w ere alm o st exclusively sim ple etchings, w ith a q u a tin t o cca
sionally ad d ed in late r states, those of a b o u t 1880 w ere com plex co m b i
n atio n s o f p u re etching, soft-ground etching, aq u atin t, a n d o th e r te c h
niques, a system so com p licated th at m o re th an tw enty trial proofs had
to be pulled of certain plates, su ch as A t the Louvre: M ary Cassatt in
the Painting Gallery [201].38 In the sam e years, Degas exp erim ented w ith
200 .
Degas, Rehearsal
of a Ballet on
Stage, ca. 1873,
detail. Peinture a
Vessence, watercolor, pastel, and
ink on paper
applied to canvas.
Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
New York, gift of
Horace Havemeyer,
29.160.26
201.
Degas, At the Louvre: Mary Cassatt in the Painting

Gallery, 1879-1880. Etching, aquatint, drypoint, and
crayon lectrique.
Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Walter S. Brewster,
1951.323
202. Degas, Two Dancers, 1876-1877. Aquatint and drypoint.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund,
25.73.1
203. Degas, Head o f a Woman, ca. 1879. Aquatint.

th e use of a q u a tin t an d d ry p o in t to o b tain an effect like th a t of a pastel,

by establish in g the m ajo r areas o f ton e w ith a q u atin t, draw in g th e lighter
form s over them w ith a b u rn ish er, an d ad d in g the d ark accen ts in
drypoint, as in Two Dancers [202].39 W orking closely w ith P issarro, w ho
later m ad e extensive use of it, he also perfected a m eth o d of sim ulating
the effect of a very fine-grained a q u a tin t by ru b b in g the p late w ith a
pointed em ery stone, w hich ro u g h en ed it sufficiently for it to retain a
film of ink a n d to p rin t as a delicate gray to n e hen ce its n am e, manire
grise.40 H e even took u p again a p late he h ad etch ed tw enty years earlier,
287
transform ing its delicately bitten lines into a som ber R em brandtesque
chiaroscuro by heavily inking the surface and w iping it unevenly before
printing.41 Indeed, so com plex and varied w ere the m ethods he now
employed that their exact description still eludes us at times; ab o u t the
unique proof in the M etropolitan M useum of the H ead o f a Woman
[203], on w hich Mary Cassatt had w ritten the cryptic phrase, experi
m ent with liquid grains, the m ost recent authority can only state, this
technique is enigm atic.42
If Degass lithographs, m ore lim ited than his etchings in n u m b er and
in chronological span, pose few er problem s of procedure, they are no
less original technically. For som e prints, such as Nude Woman Standing,
at H er Toilette [204], he aban d o n ed the lithographic crayon an d drew
on the stone alm ost exclusively with a bru sh and lithographic ink (called
tusche ).43 H ere he also used the scrap er afterw ard to define a few high
lights; elsew here he em ployed it m uch m ore extensively, either held at
an angle to create areas of soft illum ination or held upright to pick out
204.
Degas, Nude Woman
Standing at Her Toilette,
1890-1892. Lithograph.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York, purchase,
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Dil
lon Gift, 1972.626
288
brilliant light sh ap es ag ain st a d a rk ground, as in A t Les A m bassadeurs:

Mile Becat [205].44 D espite the coloristic effects th u s o b tain ed in black
an d w hite, he felt com pelled to ad d accents of p astel color to som e
im pression s of this an d sim ilar prints; a n d inevitably, once he h a d begun
retouching, he p ro ceed ed so far th a t o th er im pressions b ecam e com plete
pastels, w hose lith o g rap h ic bases w ere alm ost entirely obscu red . In the
late 1870s, having m astere d the m ono ty p e process, he ingeniously a p
plied it to lithography, draw in g the design first in p rin te rs ink on a
co p p er plate or sheet of celluloid, p rin tin g it on a p rep a re d stone ra th e r
th an a sheet of p aper, an d rew orking it w ith lithographic ink an d crayons
in the u sual m a n n er.45 The use of celluloid, of course, m ade it possible
to see the design reversed, as it w ould ultim ately appear.
F ar m ore th an a first stage in the creatio n of lithographs, the m onotype
soon becam e for Degas an end in itself, a sp o n tan eo u s form o f grap h ic
expression th a t allow ed an d even en co u rag ed him to experim ent with
u northodo x m ethods. W orking in the dark-field m a n n e r, w here the
design is p ro d u ced by rem oving ink from a p late com pletely covered
w ith it, he w as forced to a b a n d o n conventional m ean s of defining form
a n d to im provise new ones, including the use o f rags, pieces of gauze,
205.
Degas, At Les Ambassadeurs:
Mile Becat, 1875-1877.
Lithograph.
New York, Rogers Fund.
19.29.3
r* Ai
289
206. Degas, The Foyer, ca. 1880, detail. Monotype.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Elisha Whittelsey Fund,
Douglas Dillon Gift, 68.670
207. Degas, Siesta in the Salon, ca. 1880, detail. Monotype.
b lunt and pointed in stru m en ts, an d his fingers, w ith w hich he could
blend tw o tones o r create a distin ct texture, as in The Foyer [206],
recently acquired by th e M etropolitan M useum .46 H e also learn ed to vary
the viscosity of the m ed iu m itself, c o n trastin g areas of dilu ted ink
b ru sh ed on (or off) w ith a rag o r soft b ru sh and areas of thick, tacky
ink w orked w ith a stiff bristle b ru sh . And if, w hen w orking in the
"light-field m a n n e r, he did d raw directly on the p late w ith a brush, he
often com bined this m ore incisive d raftsm an sh ip w ith densely textured
o r p a tte rn e d form s p ro d u ced in th e o th e r m an n er, as in Siesta in the
Salon [207].47 The o u tstan d in g exam ples of his confidence in th e su g
gestiveness of such form s, an a ttitu d e th a t an ticip ates tw en tieth -cen tu ry
208.
Degas, Landscape with Chimneys,
1890-1893, detail. Monotype.
practice, yet also recalls a fam ous passage in L e o n ard o s notebooks, are
the landscap e m o notypes Degas executed in the early 1890s. F or here
p rin te rs ink o r oil p igm ent w as m an ip u la te d by all the m ean s previously
m entioned, b u t w as also allow ed to sp read an d d rip into accidental
p a tte rn s of its ow n, as in th e Landscape w ith C him neys [208].48 Equally
pro p h etic here are the ch ro m atic effects he achieved by rew orking in
pastel an im pression p rin ted in oil colors ra th e r th an black ink, th e tw o
types of color partly h arm o n izin g an d p artly contrastin g , so th a t the
m ost d ram atic spatial effect is not in the view rep resen ted , b u t ra th e r
in the optical vibratio n set up betw een the tw o layers o f color."49
T here w as a sim ilar dev elo p m en t to w ard g reater colorism an d tech n i
cal com plexity in D egass scu lp tu re. If th e earlier statu e tte s of h orses
and jockeys w ere m odeled entirely in m o n o ch ro m atic w ax w ith the
intention of casting them eventually in bronze, the later ones, re p re se n t
ing m ore difficult su b je cts w ith clothed an d u n clo th ed figures an d occa
sional accessories, w ere m ad e of m u lticolored w axes, o f clay w ith sm all
pebbles som etim es ad d ed , o r even o f wax com bined w ith actu al o bjects
an d fabrics. W hen it w as exhibited in 1881, the Little D ancer o f Fourteen
Years [157], a figurine of astonishingly lifelike colored wax, w ore a linen
291
bodice, a m uslin tutu, a satin rib b o n on h er hair, a n d satin slippers,

w hich heightened its startlin g illusionism .50 As we saw in C h ap ter VI,
even the long braids w ere m ad e o f real hair, w hich Degas h a d b ought
from a m a n u fa c tu re r o f d o lls o r p u p p e ts wigs. A m ong those w ho
view ed it, how ever, H u y sm an s alone realized th a t w ith this w ork Degas
had challenged th e p rinciple of m aterial unity w hich governed m ost
trad itio n al sc u lp tu re .51 W hat H u y sm an s could n o t foresee, of course, w as
the extent to w hich it also an ticip ated th e assem blage tech n iq u es of th e
tw entieth century, p rep arin g th e way, in its realism th a t w as also a form
of surrealism , both for th e brilliantly inventive form alism of C ubist
scu lp tu res an d the psychologically d istu rb in g co m b in atio n s in S urrealist
an d later w orks, even if it did n ot directly inspire th e m .52 N or w as this
th e only exam ple of such a practice in D egass scu lp tu ral oeuvre: in the
W om an W ashing H er L eft Leg, he placed beside the wax figurine a
porcelain pot, playing its cool green tone ag ainst the w arm er h u es of
th e wax; an d in The Tub [209], he set a sim ilar figurine of red-brow n
209. Degas, The Tub, ca. 1889. Bronze.
292
wax inside a m etal basin, su rro u n d ed it w ith a piece o f cloth, th en coated

the b asin a n d cloth w ith liquefied p laste r.53 It w as very likely this p ro ce
d u re th a t he d escribed in a letter to th e scu lp to r Paul B artholom in
1889: "I have w orked a great deal on th e little wax. I have m ade a base
fo r it w ith pieces o f cloth soaked in a p laste r m ore or less well m ixed.54
N othing is m o re revealing of th e confidence an d even the audacity
w ith w hich Degas ap p ro ac h ed technical pro b lem s in his m atu rity th an
the delight he took in triu m p h in g over th em u n d e r particu larly difficult
conditions. H e seem s in fact to have gone out o f his w ay to p ractice
his a rt d u rin g vacations in his frien d s' cou n try hom es an d at o th er tim es
w hen he w as deprived o f the m aterials norm ally available to him . Thus,
w hen the civil w ar in Paris forced him to rem ain at the V alpinons estate
in N orm andy in 1871, w ith o u t his usual canvas an d stretchers, he co n
trived to p a in t a m o st engaging p o rtra it of th eir d a u g h ter H o rten se
anyw ay, using a piece of co tto n ticking tak en from the lining o f a cu p
board and fastened to an im provised fram e.55 And w hen a heavy sleet
sto rm prevented h im from leaving th e h o u se of Alexis R o u art one day
in 1882, he succeeded nevertheless in m aking an etching, the W oman
Leaving H er Bath [210J, by using a crayon lectrique, an in stru m en t m ade
of the carb o n filam ent from an electric light bulb, w hich R o u art h ad
fo u n d in his facto ry next door; an d typically, this th en becam e one of
D egass favorite m ean s of etch in g .56 And again, w hen an attack of b ro n
chitis obliged him to tak e a cu re at M ont-D or in 1895, he took up
o u td o o r p h o to g rap h y w ith w h at w as, even for him , an ex trao rd in ary
fervor, ord erin g th e latest p an ch ro m atic p lates from P aris an d specifying
un u su al m ethods of dev elo p m en t in retu rn in g them , so th a t h e could
c ap tu re such su b tle effects as th e fleeting illu m in atio n of d u sk .57
H is references to p an c h ro m a tic plates in letters of A ugust 1895 seem
all the m o re rem a rk a b le w h en we learn th a t th e earliest scientific report
on th eir usage, em ploying th e term p anchrom atism e fo r th e first time,
h ad been m ad e by A uguste a n d Louis L um ire only a few m o n th s
earlier.58 A fter D egass death , en larg em en ts of sim ilar p h o to g rap h s,
taken of th e cou n try sid e aro u n d Saint-V alry-sur-Som m e, w ere found
in his stud io an d recognized to have been the insp iratio n for a n u m b er
of the lan d scap es h e h ad m ad e in the 1890s. And acco rd in g to C octeau,
he w orked d irectly on som e of these p h o to g ra p h s in pastel, am azed
210. Degas, Woman Leaving Her Bath, ca. 1882. Crayon lectrique,
etching, drypoint, and aquatint.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 21.39.1
by the com position, the foreshortening, the distortion of the plan es,
all realistic aspects of their design, b u t at the sam e tim e unw ittingly
anticipating w hat w ould later becom e a fam iliar S urrealist technique.59
In a sim pler form , he had already em ployed such a technique earlier,
working over a photograph of one of his draw ings in ord er to produce
a new version w ithout destroying the older one, ju st as he did in using
a tracing or counterproof as the basis for an o th er w ork.60 His eagerness,
in ordering panchro m atic plates, to exploit the latest technological a d
vance is also evident earlier in the enthusiasm w ith w hich he studied
and assim ilated the discoveries of E adw eard M uybridge and Jules Marey
concerning the form s of anim als and figures in rap id m ovem ent. One
294
Degas: The A rtists Mincl
of his n o teb o o k s co n tain s a referen ce to the 1878 volum e o f La Nature,

a serious scientific jo u rn al, w here an article by M arey on th e re p re
sentation of h o rses in m o tio n an d a re p o rt on M uybridges experim ents,
accom pan ied by th e first rep ro d u ctio n s of his in sta n ta n e o u s p h o to
graphs, h ad ju s t a p p e a re d .61 In th e follow ing decade, Degas copied
extensively from su ch p h o to g rap h s, even im itatin g their m etric grids at
tim es, and, fascin ated by th eir novelty and authenticity, in co rp o rated
th eir im ages into his p ictu res and statu e tte s of race h o rses.62
P h o t o g r a ph y w as evidently one of the few fields in w hich Degas re
m ained en th u sia stic a b o u t tech n ical in n o v atio n s in his old age, for as
he grew m ore disillusioned an d conservative generally, he seem s to have
tu rn ed m ore nostalgically tow ard th e a rt of th e p ast. All those w ho knew
him at th a t tim e rep o rt his fascination w ith the m eth o d s em ployed by
the R enaissance m asters, the loss of w hich eventually cam e to obsess
him . He spoke to m e o f M em ling an d Van E yck, R o uault recalled,
he w ould have liked a rare m edium , b ut one th a t w as solid a n d eternal.
T hose pictu res by M em ling have n o t b u d g ed yet, he used to say .63
And in one of th o se n u m ero u s discu ssio ns of tech n iq u e w ith Chialiva
and Jeann io t, ab o u t w hich the la tte r inform s us, Degas sounded the
fam iliar lam ent: We are living in a stran g e era, it m u st be adm itted.
This oil p ain tin g th a t we u n d ertak e, this very difficult cra ft th a t we
practice w ith o u t u n d e rsta n d in g it! S u ch in co m p reh en sio n h as never
before been seen .64 In this situation, h e fo u n d a t once a fu rth e r reaso n
fo r rejectin g w h at he considered th e shallow , m erely n a tu ralistic a rt of
his ow n age a n d an initiatio n in to th e cu lt of the m ysterious past.
"B eauty is a m y stery , he told D aniel H alevy, b u t no one know s it any
m ore. The recipes, th e secrets are forgotten. A young m a n is set in the
m iddle of a field a n d told, P a in t. And he p ain ts a sincere farm . I ts
id io tic.65 In this n ostalgia for th e technical secrets of the R enaissance,
there w as, of course, also a certain am o u n t of fantasy, o f w hich his
rem ark th at Van Dyck o b tain ed from an old spin ster, w hom he had
know n in G enoa, secrets confided to h er by T itian is an a m u sin g ex
am p le.66
The so-called secrets o f the V enetians, th e m eth o d s of u n d erp ain tin g

and glazing, w h ereb y they achieved subtle, glow ing colors, w hich had
295
previously intrigued th ree g en eratio n s of E nglish artists from R eynolds

to T urner, also preo ccu p ied Degas. A round 1865, he h ad alread y m ade
th ree careful copies in oil [e.g. 211
of a H oly Family in th e Louvre
th a t w as th en a ttrib u te d to G iorgione, b u t his stu d y o f its coloristic
stru ctu re seem s to have rem ain ed w ith o u t im m ediate influence on his
ow n art. Som e fifteen years later, how ever, Jean n io t w as am azed to see
him finish a p ictu re o f jockeys by a d d in g oil glazes: This so-called
Im p ressio n ist liked o ld-fashioned m ethods, w hich w'ere in his opinion
still the b e st
M oreover, he began to seek sim ilar effects, based on
th e in teractio n of w arm an d cool tones at d ifferent levels of the color
stru ctu re, in th e pastels to w hich he tu rn e d increasingly afte r 1875, an d
above all in those th a t he drew over a m o n o ty p e base, w hich co n stitu te
ab o u t one-fourth of th e total. Indeed, so fascin ated w as he w ith this
]67
.68
procedure, th a t he began regularly to pull tw o im p ressio n s of his m o n o

types, so th a t th e seco n d o n e could be rew orked extensively in p a ste l
.69
211 .
Degas, Copy after

Sebastiano del
Piombos Holy Family,
ca. 1865. Oil on
canvas.
Collection of Mme
Marcel Nicolle, Paris
296
212. Degas, Nude Woman Combing Her Hair, 1877-1879, detail. Pastel
over monotype.
Collection of Mrs. Henry Ittleson, New York
213. Degas, After the Bath, ca. 1896, detail. Oil on canvas.
Collection of H. Lutjens, Zurich
By allowing th e layers of chalk to rem ain distin g u ish ab le from th at of

the ink below them , th u s p artly b len d in g an d p artly co m p etin g with it
in p attern an d color value, as in the N ude W oman C om bing H er Hair
[212], he o b tain ed an effect not unlike those he ad m ired in V enetian art,
although m o re m o d ern in its d irectn ess and in ten sity He m u st in fact
have stud ied the Venetian m asters closely again in th e 1890s, for in a
n u m b e r of oil p aintings he seem s to have follow ed th eir p ro ced u re of
u n d erp ain tin g in m o n o ch ro m atic cool tones an d glazing in w arm bright
ones, as is p articularly evident in A fter the Bath [213], w hich w as left
unfinished in th e grisaille s ta te
In the m istaken belief th a t M antegna, too, h ad em ployed this m ethod,
Degas insisted th a t E rn est R ouart, an in fo rm al p u pil of his in 1897, copy
the Virtues Victorious over the Vices in the L ouvre by u n d erp ain tin g in
.70
.71
297
earth green tones and, w hen these did not seem brig h t enough, in apple
green tones, an d th en glazing in red an d o range tones. The resu lts were,
of course, d isastro u s, for as the young R o u a rt h im self realized, "h e h ad
som e novel ideas a b o u t how th e old m asters w orked, an d w an ted m e
to m ake th e copy according to a tech n iq u e he had th o u g h t up, w hich
w as m uch closer to th a t of the V enetians th an to th at of M an teg n a
Ironically, D egass ow n copy of th e Virtues Victorious over the Vices
[214], w hich he began at the sam e tim e, w orking in his stu d io from a
p h o tograph, w as d raw n directly on a b ro w n -to n ed can v as in ch arcoal
and w hite c h alk
Yet th ere w as som e reaso n in his ap p aren tly foolish
in stru ctio n s to his pupil: he h ad p ro b ab ly read a b o u t ju s t such a pro-
.72
.73
214. Degas, Copy after Mantegnas Virtues Victorious over the Vices, 1897.
Charcoal and pastel on canvas.
Musee du Louvre, Paris
298
gression fro m green to red tones in th e discussion of fresco painting

in C cnnino C enninis The C raftsm ans H andbook, w here in fact it is
reco m m en d e d th a t the sam e p ro ced u re also be follow ed in easel p a in t
ing
A tran sla tio n of C en n in is treatise by Victor M ottez, a pupil of
Ingres, h a d b een p u b lish ed in 1858, a t ju s t the tim e w hen Degas, w ho
had studied u n d er o th er p u p ils o f Ingres d ed icated to the revival of
m o n u m en ta l religious art, w ould have been m ost inclined to read it.
A ccording to his niece Je an n e Fvre, his lib rary already co n tain ed by
th en "w orks on th e p a in te rs tech n iq u es, in p a rticu lar the am azing
treatise on fresco p ain tin g by C ennino C ennini
A m ong the o th er technical books in his library w as p robably C harles
E astlak es Materials fo r a H istory o f Oil Painting, an equally p o p u lar
w ork, in w hich Degas w ould have fo u n d a ch a p te r describing w hat "the
Venetian M eth o d s actually w ere It w as evidently this acco u n t of th eir
system of u n d erp ain tin g in red, black, an d w hite tones, laying on a thin,
sem i-tran sp a ren t film of w hite, an d glazing over it in w arm tones th a t
Degas had in m ind w hen he p ain ted a caf in terio r in the presence an d
for the benefit of Jean n io t. A ccording to th e latter, he ou tlin ed its p rin ci
pal lines in black ink on a w hite canvas, drew a grid o f red a n d yellow
lines over them , dissolved and sp read these colors over the surface to
p ro d u ce a w arm , sem i-tran sp a ren t film, a n d finally rew orked individual
form s in m ore o p aq u e co lo rs O bviously, how ever, D egass m eth o d w as
as m uch his ow n invention as a faithful im itation of th e Venetian one,
and although his cal in terio r is unkn o w n today, it can h ard ly have
possessed th e subtlety o r d ep th of color he ad m ired in th at art. It is
interesting th at Degas, in a ttem p tin g th u s to com bine effects of tra n s
p arency an d opacity in a single process, w as rep eatin g L eo n ard o s
equally un su ccessfu l experience w hen p ain tin g The Last Supper, as
R ouault seem s already to have realized a t the tim e: Like L eonardo,
Degas had d re a m e d of m ixing fresco p ain tin g an d oil pain tin g ; in o th e r
w'ords, of unitin g tw o so m ew h at o p p o sed q u alities
.74
.75
.76
.77
.78
h e s t o r y o f E rn e st R o u a rts copy is n o t th e only instance, even in

D egass ow n oeuvre, of failure due to in a d e q u a te know ledge o f o r in
difference to trad itio n al techniques. O ne o f his m ost im p o rta n t early
pictures, Mile Fiocre in the Ballet from "La S o u rc e [9], w as partly ru in ed
299
The A rtist as Technician
w hen he tried to rem ove a co at o f v arn ish he h ad im pulsively decided

to have applied on th e eve o f its exhibition at th e S alon of 1868, an d
it was only m any years la te r th at he w as able to have the rem ain d e r
o f the varnish rem oved a n d to re p air the d am ag ed areas; even then,
he w as never m ore th a n h alf satisfied w ith th e re su lts
A nother
picture, p ain ted entirely in egg tem p era, quickly cracked an d was ruined,
because he h a d used as a vehicle the w hite ra th e r th an th e yolk, th o u g h
here, too, it is possible th a t he w as co n fu sed by C ennini's discussion
of the legitim ate uses of egg w hite in te m p era p a in tin g W hen a n o th e r
pictu re becam e badly cracked, he at first b lam ed m o d ern m eth o d s of
color m an u factu re , expressing a reactio n ary a ttitu d e typical of his old
age: One will nev er know all th e h a rm th a t ch em istry has d one to
p ain tin g
B ut as Vollard, w ho tells th e story, goes on to explain, the
d am age w as in fact c au sed by D egass having p ain ted on a canvas w hose
lead w hite prim ing w as not thoroughly dry. T h at he w as alw ays so m e
w h at uneasy ab o u t th e co n seq u en ces of his technical experim ents is
evident from a rem ark rep o rte d by E d m o n d de G o ncourt in 1890: He
has n o t gone to see his p ictu res in th e sale of th e M ay Collection, b ecause
he . . . fears a d isin teg ratio n of his painting, due to a m ix tu re of v inegar
and som ething else, a m ixture he w as in fatu a te d w ith a t a certain tim e
If th e n u m b e r o f D egass p ictu res ru in e d by u n so u n d p ro ced u res is
relatively sm all, the n u m b e r of those disfigured by later revisions, o ften
in a different m edium from th e one originally em ployed, is surprisingly
large. A fter his death , a great m an y o f these partially rep a in ted w orks
w ere found in his studio, in cluding no t only y o u thful ones such as
A lexander and B ucephalus [215], w hose very carefully ren d ered details
w ere h alf o b literated by heavy p a in t applied w ith a p alette knife ra th e r
th a n a fine brush, b u t also m a tu re ones such as The Ballet Class [216],
a p ictu re of aro u n d 1880, w hose equally d estru ctiv e rep ain tin g m any
years later is m ore difficult to u n d e rs ta n d P robably th e m ost poig n an t
evidence of this d a n g ero u s co m p u lsio n to revise is found, once again,
in E rn est R o u art's m em oir:
.'9
.80
.81
.82
.83
After seeing again and again at our house a delightful pastel my father had
bought and was very fond of, Degas was seized with his habitual and
imperious urge to retouch it. He would not let the m atter alone, and in
the end my father, from sheer weariness, let him take it away . . . . Often
300
215.
Degas, Alexander and Bucephalus,
1859-1860, detail. Oil on canvas.
my father would ask him about his beloved pastel; Degas would put him
off in one way or another, but in the end he had to confess his crim e: the
work en trusted to him for a few retouches had been com pletely destroyed
.84
W h e n h e re p la c e d it w ith a n o th e r w o rk , th e D ancers at the B a r [190J,

h e fo u n d so m e th in g th e re , to o , th a t h e w ish e d to rev ise, b u t th is tim e
w as p re v e n te d fro m d o in g so.
S till m o re n u m e ro u s a re th e e x a m p le s o f D e g ass sc u lp tu re d isfig u re d
by ex cessiv e re v isio n o r by te c h n ic a l in e x p e rie n c e in d e e d , so n u m e ro u s
th a t th ey c o n s titu te th e ru le r a th e r th a n th e strik in g e x c e p tio n . D e te r
m in e d to c re a te fig u res w ith a p o w e rfu l effect o f m o v e m e n t a n d im m e
d iacy , y et im p a tie n t w ith th e u su a l m e th o d s o f b u ild in g a rm a tu re s , he
im p ro v ise d w ith p iece s o f w ire a n d w o o d ; a n d w h e n th e se b e g a n to
co llap se , as th e y in e v ita b ly d id , h e re p a ire d th e m w ith m a tc h stic k s o r
p a in tb ru s h e s , o r sim p ly p ro p p e d u p th e b ro k e n lim b w ith w h a te v e r w as
at h a n d
.85
F o r p e rv e rse re a s o n s o f e c o n o m y , h e also in s iste d o n m a k in g
h is o w n w ax, w h ic h so o n b e c a m e to o friab le , a n d o n m ix in g in to it so m e
tallow , w h ic h m a d e it less d u ra b le . At tim e s h e also a d d e d b its o f cork,
w h ic h p e rio d ic a lly ro s e to th e su rfa c e , d e stro y in g th e su b tle m o d e lin g
301
.86
and m aking necessary extensive re p a irs It is n o t surprising, then, th a t

w hen his dealer D urand-R uel inventoried th e co n ten ts o f his house afte r
his death, he foun d a b o u t one h u n d re d a n d fifty pieces [of scu lp tu re]
scattered over the th ree floors in every p ossible place. M ost of th em w ere
in pieces, som e alm o st red u c e d to d u s t
Indeed, as early as 1890,
before the m ajority of th em h ad been m ade, G eorge M oore w rote that
in D egass studio th ere is m u ch decaying sc u lp tu re dan cin g girls
m odeled in red w ax, som e d ressed in m uslin skirts, strang e dolls. . .
It has been arg u ed th a t w h at led Degas to devise such prim itive
m ethods, ra th e r th an to rely on th e so u n d e r ones u rgently reco m m en d ed
by his friend B artholom , a professional sculptor, w as his love of in d e
pen d en ce and im pro v isatio n ; and it is tru e th at w ith it h e w as able to
create effects of m o tio n an d intim acy unk n o w n to B arth o lo m an d his
colleagues
N evertheless, th ere is som eth in g parad o x ical in the o b sti
nacy w ith w hich Degas, w ho had long been fascinated by artistic tech
n iq u es and by th e tech n ical as such, refu sed to follow expert advice o r
even com m on sense an d in stead allow ed m any of his finest statu ettes
.87
.88
.89
216.
Degas, The Ballet
Class, ca. 1880,
detail. Oil on
canvas.
Private collection,
Zurich
302
to be d estroyed. Nor w as this a ttitu d e typical only of his old age, w hen
a p ro fo u n d pessim ism seem s to have perv ad ed all of his activities. In
1882, he allow ed an a m b itio u s clay relief w ith figures h alf life size, his
one atte m p t at bas-relief scu lp tu re, a n d one th a t R enoir considered as
han d so m e as th e a n tiq u e , g radually to dry a n d eventually to cru m b le
into d u st This is The Apple Pickers, o f w hich only a sm all w ax replica
or sketch now survives [163].91 And in 1884, after weeks of p a tie n t an d
laborious w ork on a b u st o f H o rten se V alpingontypically, it had b e
com e a half-length figure by the tim e he h ad finishedhe d ecided im
pulsively to m old it him self, ra th e r th an call in an e x p ert as he h ad
.90
planned, an d th e n he m ixed ord in ary p la ste r w ith the in a d e q u a te supply

of m olding p la ste r he h a d a t h an d , so th a t b o th th e figure and its m old
w ere broken an d soon lo st
W hile w orking on the bust, he h ad la
m en ted his insufficient technical know ledge, b ut far from trying to
su p p lem en t it, h e seem s to have enjoyed groping a n d experim enting.
How I floundered a t first, good G od! he w rote to H enri R ouart, And
how little we know w hat we are doing w hen we do n o t let o u r craft
take care a bit of the things we need. One tells oneself in vain th a t w ith
innocence one will accom plish everything; one succeeds p erh ap s, b u t
so sloppily
In this case, u n fo rtu n ate ly , he did n o t succeed at all.
The chronicle o f these technical d isasters recalls th o se th a t beset
L eonardo d a Vinci, w ith w hom we have alread y co m p ared Degas several
tim es. The o ld er m a s te rs "d isreg ard for m edia of ex ecu tio n , whites
K enneth Clark, "m ark ed all his m ost im p o rta n t w orks. The Last Supper,
The Battle o f Anghiari, th e can alisatio n o f th e Arno w ere all d am ag ed
or even an n ih ilated by this defect, w hich sp ra n g not only from im p a
tience and exp erim en talism , bu t from a certain ro m an tic u n reality
The sam e m ight be said of m u ch of th e scu lp tu re a n d som e of the
p ain tin g o f Degas, w hose artistic p erso n ality an d attitu d e to w ard crea
tion resem b led L e o n ard o s in m an y respects. This fascin atin g parallel,
w hich we have alread y seen R o u au lt d ra w h as stru ck o th e r artists w ho
knew Degas or have stu d ied his o euvre closely. T hus, th e A m erican
p a in ter R. H. Ives G am m ell, for w hom D egass notes an d rem ark s are
equaled only by those of L eo n ard o an d In g res as verbal reco rd s of th eir
profession al th in k in g w hich a re o f c o m p arab le value to p racticing
p a in ters, concludes th a t D egass ex p erim en tal tu rn o f m ind a n d widely
.92
.93
.94
,95
303
.96
ranging curiosity relate his th inking m o re closely to L eo n ard o s. . .

And the F rench p a in te r H enri Rivire, evoking for us m em ories of
Degas, w as rem in d ed by him of L eo n ard o d a Vincis scruples, . . . scru
ples w hich w ere a d m irab le in th eir h um ility bu t, if th ey im pelled the
a rtist into useful investigations, also led him into d isap p o in tm en ts th a t
h in d ered his p ro d u c tio n
As in L eonardo, how ever, th e rom antic
u n reality in Degas w as only the reverse of the coin: its obverse w as
a rem ark ab le ingenuity an d d arin g in th e invention of new' m edia o r
new m eth o d s of co m bining trad itio n al ones. No m a tte r how p o ig n an t
o r baffling the failures m ay seem , it is b ecause the successes w ere so
.97
brilliant th a t the p ro b lem is w o rth discussing at all.
Notes
Frequently Cited Sources
4. P. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, trans. D. Paul, New

York, 1960, p. 63; from Degas danse dessin, Paris, 1936.
J. Adhmar and F. Cachin, Edgar Degas,

gravures et monotypes, Paris, 1973, catalogue of
etchings and lithographs.
ADHEMAR.
Catalogue des tableaux, pastels et dessins

par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier, Galerie
Georges Petit, Paris, I. May - , 1918; II. December
11-13, 1918; III. April 7-9, 1919; IV. July 2-4, 1919.
ATELIER.
68
J. Adhmar and F. Cachin, Edgar Degas,

gravures et monotypes, Paris, 1973, catalogue of
monotypes.
cachin .
5. Ibid., pp. 5-6.
. See the bibliography in J. Rewald, The History o f

Impressionism, 4th ed., New York, 1973, pp. 629-634; and
the works of Adhmar, Cachin, and Reff listed in the
Frequently Cited Sources, above.
7. G. Moore, Degas, The Painter of Modem Life,
Magazine o f Art, 13, 1890, p. 423.
. J.-K. Huysmans, LExposition des Indpendants

en 1880, L Art moderne, Paris, 1883, pp. 120-121.
P.-A. Lcmoisne, Degas et son oeuvre,

4 vols., Paris, 1946-1949, text and catalogue of
paintings and pastels.
l e m o is n e .
Lettres de Degas, ed M. Gurin, Paris,

1945. The English translation, by M. Kay, Oxford,
1947, has been revised here where necessary.
lettres .
T. Reff, The Notebooks o f Edgar Degas,

2 vols., Oxford, 1976, catalogue of notebooks, cited
by notebook number and page.
notebook .
J. Rewald, Degas Sculpture, The Complete

Works, New York, 1956, catalogue of sculptures.
rew ald.
I. The Butterfly and the Old Ox

1. J. Engelhart, ' Meine Erlebnisse mit James McNeill
Whistler aus dem Jahre 1898, Der Architekt, 21, 1916
1918, p. 53.
2. See Notebook 12, pp. 11, 72, and Notebook 13, pp.
41-45; used in 1858-1859. The portrait is I-emoisne, no.
105; dated 1862.
3. See D. Sutton, Nocturne, The Art o f lames McNeill
H'histler, London, 1963, pp. 21-22,72-74,78-79, etc.; also
p. 134 on a self-portrait of 1898 inspired by Velazquez.
4. J. Raunay, Degas, souvenirs anecdotiques,
Revue de France, 11, Part 2, 1931, p. 482.
Introduction
1. L. E. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, ed. M. Gurin,
Paris, 1946 [1st ed. 1876], p. 43. He identified Degas ex
plicitly in annotating a copy of the pamphlet; see .
Reutersward, "An Unintentional Exegete of Impres
sionism," Konsthistorisk Tijdskrift, 4, 1949, p. 112.
2. L. E. Duranty, Le Peintre Louis Martin, Le Pays

des arts, Paris, 1881, pp. 335-336; from Le Sicle, No
vember 13-16, 1872.
3. G. Moore, letter to Daniel Halvy, 1931, Lettres,
Eng. trans., p. 237.
5. Letter of February 18, 1873, Paris, Bibliothque

Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 13005, fol. 9; published only in
English, in Lettres, Eng. trans., p. 32. Letter of August 22,
1875; T. Reff, "Some Unpublished Letters of Degas, Art
Bulletin, 50, 1968, pp. 89-90.
. Letter of May 2, 1882, Lettres, p. 62. The picture is

in the collection of Ian Gilmour, London.
7. Letters dated 9 March and "Saturday ; Glasgow,
University Library , B. P. II, D/4 and D/5.1 am indebted
to the late McLaren Young for making photocopies of
the Whistler-Degas correspondence there available to
me.
305
306
. Letter of November 27, 1891; Correspondance

Mallarm-Whistler, d. C. P. Barbier, Paris, 1964, p. 129.
The picture is in the Louvre.
9. J.-E. Blanche, Propos de peintre, de Da\>id Degas,
Paris, 1919, p. 54.
26. Letter of September 1885, Lettres, p. 109. Degas

had evidently heard, or heard about, the lecture when
Whistler repeated it in Dieppe that summer; see ibid.,
note 4.
27. See Whistlers letter to Mallarm, June 19, 1891,
Correspondance Mallarm-Whistler, p. 90.

10. Draft of an undated letter; Glasgow, University
Library, B. P. II, D / .

Library, B. P. II, D/7.
28. Pennell, Life of Whistler, 1, p. 165.

29. T. R. Way, Memories of James McNeill Whistler,
London, 1912, pp. 2-25,50, 55-56,71,90-91. Pennell, Life
of Whistler, I, pp. 164-165.
12. D. Cooper, The Courtauld Collection, A Catalogue

and Introduction, London, 1954, p. 18.
30. See D. Rouart, Degas la recherche de sa tech

nique, Paris, 1945; and Chap. VII, pp. 294-298.
13. Catalogue des estampes . . . collection Edgar

Degas, Htel Drouot, Paris, November 6-7, 1918, nos.
316-323.
31. See Way, Memories of Wlustler, pp. 95-96; and

Chap. VII, pp. 298-302.
14. W. Rothenstein, Men and Memories, 3 vols., New

York, 1931-1938,1, p. 101.
15. Ibid, pp. 101-102.
16. G. Moore, Degas, The Painter of Modem Life,
Magazine o f Art, 13, 1890, p. 425; see also the remarks
reported on p. 420.
32. See Pennell, Life of Whistler, I. pp. 179-180; and

Way, Memories of Whistler, pp. 54-55.
33. E. Degas, A Propos du Salon, Paris-Joumal,
April 12, 1870; reprinted in Reff, "Some Unpublished
Letters, pp. 87-88.
34. E. Moreau-Nlaton, "Deux heures avec Degas,
L'Amour de Art, 12,1931, p. 268; based on an interview

in December 1907.
17. letters exchanged October 20 and 25, 1890; Cor

respondance Mallarm-Whistler, pp. 71-72.

Library, B. P. II, D / .
19. H. Meilhac and L Halvy, Thtre, vols., Paris,

1900-1902, III, pp. 88-89, 120; first produced October ,
1877. See Chap. IV, pp. 186-187.
20. J. Hollingshead, The Grasshopper, A Drama in

Three Acts, London, 1877, p. 27; first produced Decem
ber 10, 1877. On Pellegrinis caricature, see the appendix
to this chapter.
21. Lemoisne, no. 245; dated ca. 1869.
22. E. R. and J. Pennell, The Life o f James McNeill
Whistler, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1908,1, p. 235.
23. Lemoisne, nos. 199-205, 217-253; all dated ca.
1869.
24. Pennell, Life o f Whistler, I, p. 234. G. Jeanniot,
"Souvenirs sur Degas, Revue Universelle, 55, 1933,
p. 281.
25. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 158. J. M.
Whistler, The Gentle Art o f Making Enemies, New York,
1890, pp. 142-143; the lecture was first given February
20, 1885, and published in 1888.
35. See L. W. Havemeyer, Sixteen to Sixty, Memoirs of

a Collector, New York, 1961, p. 250; A. Vollard, Degas,
Paris, 1924, pp. 72-74; and Notebook 30, pp. 19, 25-26,
etc.
36. Lemoisne, no. 517; dated 1879.
37. See Wildenstein, New York, From Realism to
Symbolism, Whistler and His World, March 4April 3,
1971, no. 140, and the works cited there.
38. Paul Poujaud, letter to Marcel Guerin, July 11,
1936, Lettres, p. 256.
39. Lemoisne, no. 79; dated 1860-1862, but more
likely of 1859-1860. The other works are illustrated in J.
Rewald, The History of Impressionism, 4th ed., New
York, 1973, pp. 32-33; see also Sutton, Nocturne, pp.
25-26.
40. The first works in which such features occur are
Mile Fiocre in the Ballet from La Source[9], 1866-1868,

and Thrse Morbilli [77], ca. 1869; Lemoisne, nos. 146,
255. See J. Sandberg, Japonisme and Whistler," Bur
lington Magazine, 106, 1964, p. 503.
41. Lemoisne, no. 125; dated 1865. Wapping is illus
trated in D. Sutton, James McNeill "Whistler, London,
1966, pi. 11.
42. Lemoisne, no. 313; dated 1872-1873.
Notes: The Butterfly and the Old Ox

43. See Sandberg. "'Japonism e' and Whistler, pp.
500-507; and B. Grays reply in Burlington Magazine,
107, 1965, p. 324. The picture is illustrated in Sutton,
James McNeill Whistler, pi. 44.
44. Lemoisne, no. 175. Another example, also of 1866,
is The Collector o f Prints [65], where a Chinese ceramic
and Japanes textiles appear in the background; Le
moisne, no. 138.
45. Letter to Fantin-Latour, September 1867; quoted
in Sutton, Nocturne, pp. 56-57. On the influence of
Ingres, see also ibid., p. 60.
46. Ibid., pp. 20-21. Notebook 2, p. 48; used in 1854
1855.
47. See A. Jullien, Fantin-Latour, sa vie et ses amitis,
Paris, 1909, pp. 62-65.
48. See this chapter, note 40; and From Realism to
Symbolism, no. 63.
49. Notebook 20, p. 17; used in 1864-1867.
50. L. Bndite, "Whistler, Gazette des Beaux-Arts,
34, 1905, pp. 154 158. On its correct date, and the pres
ence of Whistler's painting in Paris, see From Realism to
Symbolism, no. 18.
51. On the influence of another Whistler, The White
Girl, 1862, see A. Staley, "Whistler and His World, From
Realism to Symbolism, p. 22. Repose is illustrated in
Rewald, History o f Impressionism, p. 225.
52. Letter of November 19, 1872; Paris, Bibliothque

Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 13005, fol. ; published only in
English, in Lettres, Eng. trans., p. 19.
53. Letter of February 18, 1873; see this chapter,
note 5.
54. Cooper, Courtauld Collection, p. 22, note 1. A
dance picture, Lemoisne, no. 298, was exhibited there in
November 1872; see R. Pickvance, "Degass Dancers,
1872-1876, Burlington Magazine, 105,1963, pp. 256-257.
55. Sec this chapter, note 3; and E. and J. de Goncourt, Journal, mmoires de la vie littraire, ed. R. Ricatte, 22 vols., Monaco, 1956, X, pp. 163-165, dated February 13, 1874.
56. See Arts Council Gallery, London, James McNeill
Whistler, September 1-24, 1960, no. 36; also nos. 33, 34.
57. Lemoisne, no. 404; dated 1876-1877. See also nos.
372, 405, etc.
58. W. Sickert, A Free House! or The Artist as Crafts
man, ed. O. Sitwell, London, 1947, p. 147.
307
59. T. R. Way, Mr. Whistlers Lithographs, 2nd ed.,
London, 1905, nos. 43-45, 48-50, 53-59. The painting is
illustrated in Sutton, James McNeill Whistler, pi. 103.
60. Lemoisne, no. 368; dated ca. 1875. See also the
monotypes, Cachin, nos. 56-68; dated ca. 1880, but more
likely of ca. 1878. For B onnards series, see C. RogerMarx, Bonnard lithographe, Monte Carlo, 1952, nos.
56-68.
61. Lemoisne, no. 438; dated ca. 1876. See Sutton,
James McNeill Whistler, pi. 114; on its debt to Degas,
see A. McLaren Young, Whistler Unattached," Not
tingham University Art Gallery, James McNeill Whistler,
January 10February 4, 1970, p. .
62. Pennell, Life o f Whistler, 5th ed., 1911, p. 157.

63. Way, Memories o f Whistler, pp. 21-22. See Way,
Mr. Whistler's Lithographs, nos. 10, 81,114; the last two,
printed in 1895-1896, may have been drawn earlier, then
transferred to stones.
64. J. Hollingshead, My Lifetime, 2 vols., London,
1895, II, pp. 154 -155; from the Daily News, December 14,
1877. See also Hollingshead, II, pp. 120-121.
65. A. E. Gallatin, The Portraits and Caricatures o f
James McNeill Whistler, London, 1913, no. 154, with il
lustration.
66
. Lemoisne, no. 407; dated 1876-1877. See J. S.

Boggs, Portraits by Degas, Berkeley, 1962, p. 53.
67. Notebook 27, pp. , 18, 28, 34, 98; used in 1875
1878. Notebook 26, pp. 4, 50, 78, 98; used in 1875-1877.
II. Three Great Draftsmen

1. G. Moore, "Degas, The Painter of Modem Life,
Magazine o f Art, 13, 1890, p. 423.
2. For Ingres, see this chapter, pp. 43-50; for Flaxman, T. Reff, "Degas's Copies of Older Ait, Burlington
Magazine, 105, 1963, p. 248; for David, ibid., pp. 247-248,
and Lemoisne, no. , dated 1854-1855.
3. Reff, "Degass Copies of Older Art, pp. 245, 248;

and T. RefT, "New Light on Degass Copies," Burlington
Magazine, 106, 1964, p. 257.
4. See this chapter, pp. 55-60; also P. Pool, "The His
tory Pictures of Edgar Degas and Their Background,
Apollo, 80, 1964, pp. 306-311.
5. For Fromentin, see RefI, "New Light on Degass
Copies," p. 257; for Chassriau, Notebook 14A, p. 9. For
Lawrence, see Lemoisne, nos. 81, 189; both dated 1868
1870, but m ore likely of 1860-1862.
Degas: The A r tists M in d
308
. For Gricault, see T. Reff, "F urther Thoughts on

Degass Copies, Burlington Magazine, 113, 1971, pp.
537-538; for De Dreux, Notebook 13, pp. 60,61,65-66,68,
etc., used in 1858-1860.
7. For Meissonier, see Reff, Further Thoughts on
Degas's Copies, pp. 537-538; for Herring, Chap. Ill,
p. 117.
. See J. S. Boggs, Portraits by Degas, Berkeley, 1962,

pp. 32-33; and T. Reff, "M anets Portrait o f Zola, Bur
lington Magazine, 117, 1975, p. 39. Compare, am ong
others, Degass At the Caf-Concert, Lemoisne, no. 380,
with M anet's Caf-Concert Singer, P. Jam ot and G. Wildenstein, Manet, 2 vols., Paris, 1932, no. 333; and
Degass Absinthe, Lemoisne, no. 393, with M anets In the
Caf, Jamot-W ildenstein, no. 314. There are also simi
larities between their pictures of nudes around 1880:
com pare Degas's Crouching Nude Seen from Behind,
Lemoisne, no. 547, with M anet's Woman in a Tub,
Jamot-W ildenstein, no. 424; and Degass lea vin g the
Bath, Lemoisne, no. 554, with M anet's The Toilette,
Jamot-W ildenstein, no. 421.
9. For Daumier, see this chapter, pp. 74-80; for Gavam i, p. 311, notes 115, 116.
10. For Victorian art, see Chap. V, pp. 227-236. For
Menzel, see Reff, "New Light on Degas's Copies, p. 255;
and Lemoisne, no. 190, incorrectly dated 1868-1870; also
Chap. V, notes , 97.
88
11. Compare the collection of his close friend Henri

R ouart, which was strong in Delacroix, as W'ell as Corot
and Daumier, but w'eak in Ingres; Catalogue des tab
leaux . . . collection de feu M. Henri Rouart, Galerie
Manzi-Joyant, Paris, December 9-11 and 16-18, 1912,
passim.
12. A. M. Wagner, "D egas's Collection of Art, An In
troductory Essay and Catalogue, M. A. Thesis, Brown
University, 1974, p. 187.
13. G. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs su r Degas, Revue Uni
verselle,55, 1933, p. 171. According to Lemoisne, I, p. 141,
Degas began frequenting the Caf de la Rochefoucauld
ca. 1883.
14. Notebook 27, p. 43; used in 1875-1878. See
T. Reff, "A Page of Degas Signatures," Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 55, I960, pp. 183-184, on which the follow
ing is partly based.
15. For sam ples of their signatures, see A. Jullien,
Ernest Reyer, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Paris, n. d., opposite
pp. 12, 36, 78; and E. Bnzit, Dictionnaire critique et
documentaire des peintres, dessinateurs et graveurs,
vols., Paris, 1950, III, p. 56 (Daumier), p. 126 (Dela
croix), p. 311 (Dor), and V, p. 65 (Ingres).
16. Compare the signatures on Lemoisne, nos. 339,

363, 380, with those on nos. 393, 409, 444; the form er
group dated 1874-1875, the latter group 1876-1877.
17. Notebook 12, pp. 106-107; used in 1858-1859.
19. G. Rouault, Souvenirs intimes, Paris, 1927, p. 94.
20. P. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, trans. D. Paul,
New York, 1960, pp. 34-35; from Degas danse dessin,
1936.
21. Ibid., p. 35. See also D. Halvy, My Friend Degas,
trans. M. Curtiss, Middletown, 1964, pp. 49-50; and E.
Moreau-N'laton, Deux heures avec Degas, L'Amour
de l'Art, 12, 1931, pp. 269-270.
22. Notebook 2, pp. 48,
pp. 9, 54; used in 1855.
68
; see also the copies on
23. For the Martyrdom, see Reff, New Light on

Degas's Copies, p. 255, fig. ; for the Bather, Notebook
2, p. 59. For Ingres's copies, see G. Wildenstein, Ingres,
London, 1954, nos. 29-32, - , 149-151, etc.
6
6668
24. Notebook 2, pp. 30, 79, 82, 83 (illustrated above).

25. Drawing in the planned Fifth Sale of Degas's
studio; Durand-Ruel photograph no. 15408 (illustrated
above). Notebook 19, p. 50; see also p. 49; used in
1860-1862.
26. Lemoisne, nos. 91 (illustrated above). 92, 93;
dated 1861-1862, but m ore likely of 1859-1860.
27. Notebook 15, pp. 2, , 16, 38; used in 1859-1860.

The painting is Lemoisne, no. 94; dated 1861 1864, but
more likely o f 1859-1860.
28. See Reff, "F urther Thoughts on Degass Copies,
pp. 534, 537; and Chap. IV, pp. 150-152.
29. See E. Galichon, "Description des dessins de
M. Ingres exposs au Salon des Arts-Unis, Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 9, 1861, pp. 343-362, and 11, 1861, pp. 38-48.
30. The study is Atelier, IV, no. 120c. The early ver
sion is Lemoisne, no. 95, dated 1861-1864, but more
likely of 1859-1860.
31. J. Rosenberg, Great Draughtsmen from Pisanello
to Picasso, Cambridge, 1959, pp. 106-107.
32. See Boggs, Portraits lyy Degas, p. 9, pis. 11,12; and
Lemoisne, no. 5. There are studies for the latter, to
gether with copies after Ingres, in Notebook 2, pp. 58B,
84-85; used in 1854-1855.
33. Notebook 17, p. 5; probably draw n ca. 1860.
34. For example, in Lemoisne, I, p. 34; and Boggs,
309
Notes: Three Great D raftsm en

Portraits by Degas, p. 13. The portrait is Lemoisne, no.
79; dated 1860-1862, but more likely of 1859-1860.
35. See Lemoisne, I, p. 37; and S. Barazzetti, "Degas
et ses amis Valpinon, Beaux-Arts, no. 190, August 21,
1936, p. 3.
36. See Rosenberg, Great Draughtsmen, p. 109.
However, Degas could not have known the portrait of
Mme Ingres; on its provenance, see Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge, Ingres, Centennial Exhibition, February 12
April 9, 1967, no. 104.
37. lem oisne, no. 255; dated ca. 1869. Wildenstein,
Ingres, no. 248.
38. Lemoisne, no. 333; dated ca. 1873. Compare the
Portrait o f a Young Woman that was later in Degass col
lection, Ingres, Centennial Exhibition, no. 4.
39. Lemoisne, no. 389; dated 1875-1880. Wildenstein,
Ingres, no. 81.
40. C. Ephrussi, "Exposition des Artistes Indpen
dants, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 21, 1880, p. 486.
41. L. E. Duranty, "Salon de 1872, Paris-Journal,
May II June 15, 1872; quoted in M. Crouzet, Un
1Mconnu du Ralisme: Duranty, Paris, 1964, p. 310.
42. L. E. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, ed. M. Gurin,
Paris, 1946 [lste d . 1876], pp. 32-33.
43. See H. Lapauze, "Ingres chez Degas, La Renais
sance de l'Art Franais, 1, no. 1, March 1918, p. 9.
44. See L. Hoctin, Degas photographe," L Oeil, no.
65, May 1960, pp. 36-38. The photographer was a young
Englishman named Barnes, whom Degas befriended.
45. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 32-33.
p.
112
46. Letter to Ludovic Halevy, September 1885, Lettres,

.
47. Moore, "Degas," p. 422.
48. Letterto P-A. Bartholome; undated, but probably

written in the spring of 1889, when many of Ingress
drawings were shown at the Palais du Champ de Mars
as part of the Worlds Fair; Lettres, p. 127.
49. Halvy, My Friend Degas, p. 50.
50. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 82. Halevy, My
Friend Degas, p. 50.
51. Letters to the Mayor of Montauban, August 25,
1897, and Alexis Rouart, July 28, 18%, Lettres, pp.
217-218, 211-212. He also offered to cooperate in pub
lishing a catalogue of the Montauban drawings; see
Lapauze, Ingres chez Degas, p. 9.
52. Letter of August 30,1898, Lettres, p. 220. The copy

in question was either of The Envoys o f Agamemnon or
of Oedipus and the Sphinx, Wildenstein, Ingres, nos. 8,61.
53. Catalogue des tableaux. . . collection Edgar Degas,
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, Match 26-27, 1918, nos.
50-69,182-214; and November 15-16,1918, nos. 182-212.
On the Leblanc portraits, see the appendix to this
chapter.
54. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 34; dated Octo
ber 22, 1905.
55. See Lapauze, "Ingres chez Degas, pp. 9-10.
56. E. and J. de Concourt, Manette Salomon, Paris,
1894 [1st ed. 1867], p. 16. See F. A. Trapp, "The Universal
Exhibition of 1855, Burlington Magazine, 107, 1965,
pp. 300-305.
57. Moreau-Nlaton, "Deux heures avec Degas, p.
268; dated December 26, 1907.
58. Letter of January 4, 1859; quoted in Lemoisne, I,
p. 229, note 35.
59. See this chapter, p. 41; and P. Pool, Degas and
Moreau, Burlington Magazine, 105, 1963, pp. 251-256.
See also Degas's letters to Moreau of 1858-1859; T. Reff,
More Unpublished Letters of Degas, Art Bulletin, 51,
1969, pp. 281-286.
60. L. E. Duranty, "Salon de 1859, Courrier de Paris,
April 19 and 26, and May 3,1859; quoted in Crouzet, Un
Mconnu du Ralisme, pp. 89-90, 199-200.
61. See A. Jullien, Fantin-Latour, sa vie et ses amitis,
Paris, 1909, pp. 62-65, with illustration.
62. Notebook 13, p. 53; used in 1858-1860. Notebook
18, p. 127; used in 1859-1864.
63. Drawings formerly in the collections of Jeanne
Fvre and Maurice Exsteens; see G. Fries, Degas et les
matres." Art de France, 4,1964, pp. 354,355, notes 36,37.
64. Notebook 16, p. 35; used in 1859-1860. Reff, "New
Light on Degass Copies, p. 252.
65. Notebook 14, pp. 59, 63-65, 70, 72-74; used in
1859-1860.
66
. For the Christ, see Notebook 16, p. 20A; for the

Combat, Fries, "Degas et les matres," pp. 353, 355; for
the Mirabeau, Notebook 18, p. 53. Other copies after De
lacroix made in this period arc in Notebook 14, p. 44
(Ilamlet and the Two Gravediggers), and Notebook 16, p.
36 (Massacre at Scio).
67. Notebook 18, p. 53A. See Fries, "Degas et les
matres," p. 354.
310
68
. Notebook 14, p. 1. In Naples the following year, he

was reminded of the similar tonality of the seascape in
Delacroix's Demosthenes Addressing the Waves o f the
Sea; Notebook 19, p. 15; used in 1860-1862.
69. Notebook 15, p. ; used in 1859-1860. The original

coloring of Jephthah's costume appears in the cracks
that have developed in the present paint surface.
70. See Fries, "Degas et les matres, pp. 354-355.
likely of 1859-1860. On the influence of Delacroix, see
also E. Mitchell, La Fille de Jepht par Degas, Gazette
des Beaux-Arts, 18, 1937, pp. 181-182.
72. A leaping dog had already appeared in some of
the studies: Notebook 18, pp. 5, 15, 17; and Lemoisne,
no. 97.
73. See Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 91-93; and
Chap. VII, pp. 299-302.
74. See C. Sterling, "Chasseriau et Degas, BeauxArts, no. 21, May 26, 1933, p. 2.
75. Goncourt, Manette Salomon, p. 13. See L. Rosen
thal, Du Romantisme au Ralisme, Paris, 1914,
pp. 157-167.
76. Lemoisne, nos. 124, 125; both are signed and
dated 1865.
7,7. A. Robaut, L',Oeuvre complet de Eugene Delacroix,
Paris, 1885, nos. 557 (illustrated above), 1012,1041,1071,
1072 (Metropolitan Museum). On the possible influence
of Courbet and Millet, see Boggs, Portraits by Degas,
p. 32.
83. J.-K. Huysmans, LExposition des Indpendants

en 1880, L A rt moderne, Paris, 1883, pp. 119-120.
84. See the provenance in M. Srullaz, Mmorial de
l'Exposition Eugne Delacroix, Paris, 1963, no. 123; both
earlier and later, the picture was in private collections.
86
. See A. Michel, LExposition dEugne Delacroix

lEcole des Beaux-Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 31,
1885, pp. 285-308.
87. Lemoisne, no. 772; dated 1884, but first exhibited
in 1886, hence possibly of ca. 1885. The use of crosshatched, complementary colore in The Toilette [186],
another pastel of this period in the Metropolitan Mu
seum, also shows Delacroix's influence; see Lemoisne,
no. 847, dated ca. 1885.
88
. Fries, "Degas et les matres, pp. 355-356. I am

indebted to Mr. Fries for the photograph. If the picture
framer on the rue Fontaine whose stam p appears on the
back of Degass copy (ibid, p. 356, note 59) was Tasset
et Lhote, this would support a date in the mid-1890s
rather than earlier; see J. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, ed. P.
Borei, Geneva, 1949, p. 140.
89. See Rel, New Light on Degas's Copies, p. 256,
fig. 5. The Delacroix figured in a sale in 1897 for which
Durand-Ruel, Degas's dealer, was the expert; see
Srullaz, Mmorial de l'Exposition Eugne Delacroix,
no. 490.
90. For example, in Four Dancers Waiting in the
Wings, Lemoisne, no. 1267; dated 1896-1899.
91. See D. Rouart, Degas la recherche de sa tech
nique, Paris, 1945, p. 46, for this and what follow's.
78. See the examples by Paolo Porpora and Andrea

Scacciati that Degas might have seen in Naples and
Florence; Palazzo Reale, Naples, La Natura Morta Italiana, OctoberNovember 1964, nos. 58,168. The labora
tory' examination report is in Metropolitan .Museum of
Art, New York, Impressionism, A Centenary Exhibition,
December 12, 1974-February 10, 1975, p. 73.
92. Halvy, My Friend Degas, pp. 72-73; on the litho

graphs, see p. 57. According to Valry, Degas Manet
Morisot, p. 71, Degas already greatly admired The
Battle o f Taillebourg.
79. See the remarks reported in E. and J. de Goncourt,

Journal, Mmoires de la vie littraire, ed. R. Ricatte, 22
vols., Monaco, 1956, X, pp. 164-165; dated February
13, 1874.
95. See Paul P oujauds letter to Marcel Guerin, Janu

ary 15, 1933, Lettres, p. 253; and Catalogue des tableaux
. . . collection Edgar Degas, March 26-27, 1918, nos.
24-36.
80. Letter to P.-A. Bartholom, September 9, 1882,

Lettres, p. 69.
96. Ibid., nos. 110-165; and ibid., November 15-16,

1918, nos. 86-153.
81. Letter to the same, September 18, 1889, Lettres,

p. 145.
97. See, for example, his Mnagerie parisienne, Paris,

1854, pis. 10, 12, etc.; and his illustrations for B. Jerrold,
London, A Pilgrimage, London, 1872, pp. 161, 167, etc.
The Dante illustration in Notebook 18, p. 116, ca. 1861,
is clearly based on those by Dor in the Paris, 1861, edi
tion of The Inferno.
82. Letter to Henri Rouart, October 26, 1880, Lettres,

p. 60. The pastel in question is probably Robaut, Eugne
Delacroix, no. 329 or 1057.
93. See Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas," p. 158.

94. Ibid, pp. 284-285.
311
N otes: Three G rea t D ra ftsm en

98. D. Halvy, Pays paiisiens, Paris, 1929, p. 60.
99. See Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme, pp.
332-344.
100. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas," p. 171. The
proofs were of The Rue Transnonain and Liberty o f the
Press; L. Delteil, Honor Daumier (Le Peintre-graveur il
lustr), 10 vols., Paris, 1925-1926, nos. 135, 133, respec
tively; both dated 1834.
101. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 171.
102. Notebook , pp. 15-18; used in 1856.

103. Lemoisne, no. 766 bis; dated 1884. See also the
drawings, Atelier, IV, nos. 264b, 272b, 276b; and Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, pp. 67-68.
115. Lemoisne, I, pp. 181-182. It may be significant

that Lemoisne is also the author of the standard mono
graph on Gavami.
116. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 171. How
ever, see Chap. V, note 155, for one instance of the type
of influence G avam i m ay have exerted on Degas.
117. Lemoisne, no. 186; dated 1868-1869. Delteil,
Honor Daumier, no. 2243; dated 1852.

118. Lemoisne, no. 295; dated 1872. Delteil, Honor
Dawnier, no. 2908; dated 1857.

119. Lemoisne, no. 433; dated ca. 1877. Delteil, Hon
or Daumier, no. 3277; dated 1864.

104. D ayton Art Institute, Jean-Lon Grme, No

vem ber 10December 30, 1972, nos. 41, 42.
105. L. E. Duranty, "Daumier, Gazette des BeauxArts, 17, 1878, p. 429.
106. Ibid., pp. 432, 439. See Delteil, Honor Daumier,

no. 131; dated 1834.
122. Cachin, no. 56; dated ca. 1880, but m ore likely
of ca. 1878. Delteil, Honor Daumier, no. 2903; dated
1857. I owe this com parison to B arbara Mathes. For
the influence of a Daum ier print on Portraits at the
Bourse, Lemoisne, no. 499, dated 1878-1879, see Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, p. 54.
107. Notebook 31, p. ; used in 1878-1879. Signifi

cantly, the 1878 article was the only one Duranty wrote
on Daumier, other than a partial repetition of it in 1879;
see Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme, p. 374, note 119.
108. Duranty, "Daum ier, pp. 438-440.
109. Ib id , pp. 429-430.
110. See T. Reff, The Notebooks o f Edgar Degas, 2
vols., Oxford, 1976,1, pp. 25-28, on which the following
is based.
111. Notebook 21, pp. 18 (illustrated above), 20, 20
verso; used in 1865-1868. See Delteil, Honor Daumier,
no. 76; dated 1834. Another exam ple is 1830 and 1833,
ibid., no. ; dated 1834.
66
112. Notebook 23, pp. 32, 33, 84, 148-151, 153 (illus
trated above); used in 1868-1872. The quotation is from
E. Kris, Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art, New York,
1952, pp. 191-192.
113. Notebook 31, pp. 84,85 (illustrated above), 92,96;
used in 18781879. See the photographs reproduced in L.
Deffoux, Chronique de l'Acadmie Goncourt, Paris, 1909,
opposite pp. 40, 112.
114. See Lemoisne, I, pp. 95-97; Boggs, Portraits by
Degas, pp. 29, 53-54; and P. Jones, Daum ier et l'Im
pressionnism e, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 55, 1960, pp.
247 250. The one exception is M. E. Fahs, "D aum iers
Influence on Degas, Cezanne, and Seurat," M. A. Thesis,
Columbia University, 1961, on which the following is
partly based.
123. See Lemoisne, I, pp. 180-181. Only 746 prints are

listed in the Catalogue des estampes... collection Edgar
Degas, H tel Drouot, Paris, N ovember 6-7, 1918, nos.
61-103, the rest presum ably having been withheld
from sale.
124. See Lemoisne, I, pp. 146-148; and K. E. Maison,
Honor Daumier, 2 vols., Greenwich, 1968,1, pp. 31-33,

46.
125. A. Silvestre, review of the exhibition in La Vie
Moderne, April 24, 1879; quoted in Lemoisne, I, p. 245,
note 131. The painting is Lemoisne, no. 410; dated
1876-1878, b u t possibly as early as 1874: see Notebook
22, p. 186; used in 1867-1874.
126. Maison, Honor Daumier, nos. 1-159 and 1-84,
respectively. However, Duranty recalled the latter
clearly enough in 1878; "Daumier," p. 538.
127. Lemoisne, no. 685; dated 1882.
128. For example, Lemoisne, no. 846; dated 1885. See
also the etching, Adhmar, no. 32; dated ca. 1879.
129. Lemoisne, no. 647; dated ca. 1881. Maison,
Honor Daumier, no. 1-146.

130. Lemoisne, no. 478 bis; dated 1878. Maison,
Honor Daumier, nos. 1-128,1-129,1-223.
312
131. These are Catalogue des tableaux . . . collection
Edgar Degas, March 26-27, 1918, nos. 23, 106-108; and
November 15-16, 1918, no. 85.
145.
Actually, it is a warm brown with touches of red,
but it does difter from the darker, cooler background
of the other portrait.
132. Corot, Courbet, Millet, and Ingres are also the

ones Duranty singles out as im portant predecessors in
La N o u ille Peinture, pp. 32-33.
133. See T. RefT, "Copyists in the Louvre, 1850-1870,
Art Bulletin, 46, 1964, pp. 552-553; and K. S. Champa,
Studies in Early Impressionism, New Haven, 1973,
pp. 15-16.
134. See F. Daulte, "Renoirs Ingres Crisis, Art
Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, February
3April 1, 1973, pp. 13-17; and M. Drucker, Renoir,
Paris, 1944, pp. 24-25, 35-36,195,198, etc., on Delacroix.
135. See G. Mack, Paul Czanne, New York, 1942, pp.
146-149, 380, on Ingres, and pp. 143, 201, on Daumier;
also S. Lichtenstein, "Czanne and Delacroix, Art
Bulletin, 46, 1964, pp. 55-67.
136. See A. de Leiris, The Drawings o f Edouard
Manet, Berkeley, 1969, pp. 59-63, on Ingres, and pp. 18,
62-63, on Delacroix; also J. Richardson, Manet, London,
1969, pp. 10, 14, 89, on Daumier.
137. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 25.
138. I am grateful to Philippe Brame for arranging
for me to consult them. A sheet with notes on Dela
croix's Entombment, which became separated from the
others, was sold recently by the Maison Charavay,
Paris; see their Bulletin d Autographes Prix Marqus,
Septem ber 1975, no. 36602.
139. Halvy, My Friend Degas, pp. 85-86. Curiously,
the passage is dated January' 21, two days before the
date Degas himself gives for their acquisition.
140. Metropolitan Museum of Art, French Paintings,
ed. C. Sterling and M. Salinger, 3 vols.. New York,
1935-1966, II, pp. 9-11; also H. Naef, "Ingres to M. Le
blanc, Metropolitan Museum o f Art Bulletin, 29, 1970,
pp. 183-184.
141. Now in the Louvre; they were bought by Bonnat
in 1890 and remained in his possession until his death,
like the painted portraits bought by his friend Degas.
See H. Naef, "Ingres und die Familie Leblanc,"
Du-Atlantis, 26, 1966, pp. 121, 133, figs. 2, 3.
III. Pictures within Pictures

1. On the history of this motif in European art, see
A. Chastel, Le Tableau dans le tableau," Stil und Ueberlieferung in der Kunst des Abendlandes (Akten des 21. In
ternationalen Kongresses fr Kunstgeschichte), 3 vols.,
Berlin, 1967,1, pp. 15-29.
2. Traditionally, this has been the function of the
paintings and prints represented in trompe-l'oeil still
lifes, but this genre held no appeal for Degas. See
M. Far, La Nature morte en France, 2 vols., Geneva,
1962, II, pis. 103-112, 151-153, 448-453; also this chap
ter, note 167.
3. Lemoisne, nos. 213,297; dated 1869 and 1872. Mir
rors are also employed, sometimes very ingeniously, in
Lemoisne, nos. 298,^348,397,516,709,768,1227. Window'
views also occur in Lemoisne, nos. 48, 116, 174, 303,
324, 447, 700.
4. Lemoisne, no. 312; dated 1872-1873. In fact, it rep
resents Degass bedroom in the Valpinfons chateau at
Mnil-Hubert, and was probably painted during a visit
in August 1892. See his letters to P.-A. Bartholom, Au
gust 16 and 27,1892, Lettres, pp. 192-194.1 am indebted
for this identification to the late Paul Brame, who vis
ited Mnil-Hubert after the Second World War and
recognized the room.
5. Notebook 2, p. 1; used in 1854-1855. See T. Retf,
New Light on Degas's Copies, Burlington Magazine,
KM, 1964, p. 250.
6
8
. Notebook 18, p. 35; used in 1859-1864.

. The most thoughtful discussion of this interest
remains that in J.-K. Huysmans, Le Salon de 1879,
L A rt moderne, Paris, 1883, pp. 111-123. On the parallel
tendency in Naturalist literature, see this chapter, notes
64, 170.
143. Now' in the Muse Bonnat, Bayonne; ibid.,

p. 133, figs. 1, .
9. L. E. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, ed. M. Guerin,

Paris, 1946 [1st ed. 1876], p. 45. Several of the paintings
he alludes to are identified in Lemoisne, I, p. 238, note
117.
144. Was it in fact made in 1886, when Mme Place

considered selling the portraits to the Louvre (ibid., pp.
132-133)?
10. See Chastel, "Le Tableau dans le tableau, pp.

21 -24. On Vermeer's use of the motif, see also L Gowing,
Vermeer, New York, 1953, pp. 48-53.
142. Now in the Louvre; ibid., p. 133, fig. 7.
313
Notes: Pictures within Pictures

11. See W. Brger [T. Thore], "Van der Meer de
Delft, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 21,1866, pp. 460-461; and
S. Meltzoff, "The Rediscovery' of Vermeer, Marsyas, 2,
1942, pp. 145-166.
the sketches of Renc-Hilaire in Notebook 4, pp. 21

23;
used in 1855-1856.
12. Quoted in Paul Poujauds letter to Marcel Guerin,

July 11,1936, Lettres, p. 256. Examples in which pictures
appear are Fantin-Latour's Two Sisters and Whistlers At
the Piano, both dated 1859; illustrated in J. Rewald, The
History of Impressionism, 4th ed., New York, 1973, pp.
32-33.
23. See de Tolnay, "Velazquez' Las Hilanderas," pp.

32-34; and M. Friedlander, Die altniederlcmdische Malerei, 14 vols., Leiden, 1924-1937, XIII, p. 69, pi. xxxvn.
13. See the other versions of the latter, Lemoisne, no.

583, and Adhmar, no. 54; both dated 1879-1880. Also
the slightly earlier Visit to the. Museum, Lemoisne, nos.
464,465; dated 1877-1880. On their place in the views of
Louvre galleries, which were popular at the time, see
J. J. Marquet de Vasselot, "Rpertoire des vues des
salles du Muse du Louvre, Archives de l'Art Franais,
20, 1946, pp. 266-279.
14. See Chastel, "Le Tableau, dans le tableau, pp.
18-19,25. On the "painted galleries in particular, see S.
Speth-Holterhoff, Les Peintres flamands de cabinets
d'amateurs au x\niesicle, Brussels, 1957.
15. For Bronzino, see Notebook 2, p. 40; used in
1854-1855. For Mantegna's series, see Notebook 14A, pp.
15,17,19, and Notebook 15, pp. 19,21-23, 36-37; used in
1859-1860.
16. See C. de Tolnay, "Velazquez' Las Hilanderas and
Las Menirtas, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 35, 1949, pp.
32-38; and Reff, "New Light on Degass Copies, p. 252,
fig. 4.
22. On August 31, 1858; see Raimondi, Degas e la sua

famiglia, p. 126.
24. Letter from Laure Bellelli, April 5,1859; collection

the late Jean Nepveu-Degas, Paris.
25. For drawings by them in the Louvre by this time,
see E. Moreau-Nelaton, Les Clouet et leurs emules, 3
vols., Paris, 1924, II, figs. 298-313.
26. Atelier, IV, no. 87d; probably 1855-1856; after
Moreau-Nelaton, Les Clouet, II, fig. 308. Notebook 14, p.
67; used in 1859-1860; after Louvre 130. Degas refers to
the latteras "Janet, the Wife of Charles IXin plan
ning a portrait of a woman, in Notebook 18, p. 194; used
in 1859-1864.
27. Notebook 13, p. 10; used in 1859-1860. The frame
on the drawing shown in The Bellelli Family is similar to
the nineteenth-century one reproduced in Raimondi,
Degas e la sua famiglia, pi. 20, but is not identical with it
as is stated there.
28. Lemoisne, no. 138; signed and dated 1866.
29. E. Moreau-Nelaton, "Deux heures avec Degas,"
L Amour de IArt, 12, 1931, pp. 267-270. This type of col
lector is vividly evoked in E. de Goncourt, La Maison
d unartiste, 2 vols., Paris, 1931 [Isted. 1881], 1, pp. 33-36.
30. lem oisne, no. 647; dated ca. 1881.

likely of 1859-1860. See J. S. Boggs, "Edgar Degas and
the Bellellis, Art Bulletin, 37, 1955, pp. 127-136.
31. See K. E. Maison, Ilonore Daumier, 2 vols.,

Greenwich, 1968, I, pis. 84-99, and II, pis. 115-130. The
Collector is Lemoisne, no. 648; dated ca. 1881.
18. The outstanding examples are The Bellelli Family

itself and The Daughter of Jephthah, Lemoisne, no. 94;
dated 1861-1864, but more likely of 1859-1860.
32. SeeH .B eraldi,LesGraveursduxix* siecle, 12vols.,

Paris, 1885-1892, XI, pp. 177-178, especially Les Roses
(1835) and Choix de soixante roses (1836).
19. Letter from Achille de Gas, May 14, 1859; collec

tion the late Jean Nepveu-Degas, Paris, who kindly al
lowed me to consult his unpublished family papers.
33. For similar examples, see E. Fuchs, Tang-Plastik,

Munich, n.d. [1924], pis. 46, 48; and especially Shensi
Province, Selected T a ng Dynasty Figurines, Peking, 1958
(in Chinese), pi. 160. I am indebted to Jane Gaston
Mahler for these references.
20. According to R. Raimondi, Degas e la sua famiglia

in Napoli, Naples, 1958, pp. 261-262, it originally repre
sented the Baron Bellelli, but was repainted during a
restoration ca. 1900. This has not been confirmed by
a technical examination, as Madeleine Hours of the
Laboratoire du Muse du Louvre has kindly informed
me.
34. See Victoria and Albert Museum, Guide to the

Japanese Textiles, Part I, Textile Fabrics, London, 1919,
pp. - , pi. x; the examples date from the late eight
eenth and early nineteenth centuries.
21. Lemoisne, no. 33; dated 1857, incorrectly identi

fied as Auguste de Gas, the artists father. Adhmar, no.
; dated 1856. The latters identification is confirmed by
35. Goncourt, La Maison d'un artiste, I, pp. 182-183;

also ibid., pp. 11-17, on his own collection of Japanese
fabrics, especially the so-called fukusas, small embroi
dered squares similar to those in Degas's painting.
2021
314
36. See E. Chesneau, "Le Japon Paris, Gazette des
Beaitx-Arts, 18,1878, p. 387; and L. Bndite, "Whistler,"
ibid, 34, 1905, pp. 143-144. If the collector in Degass
portrait specialized in Japanese art, he is not one of
those mentioned in these sources.
48. L. Binyon, A Catalogue o f Japanese and Chinese

Woodcuts... in the British Museum, London, 1916, p. 165,
no. 32; sec also p. 164, no. 30, for a similar example. I am
indebted to Basil Gray and Jack Hillier for this sugges
tion, which they have made independently.
37. For the former, see D. Sutton, James McNeill

Whistler, London, 1966, pi. 30; for the latter, Museum of
Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. James
Jacques Joseph Tissot, February 28March 29,1968, no.
12. On the vogue of Japanese art in the 1860s, see G. P.
Weisberg, "Japonisme: Early Sources and the French
Printmaker, 1954-1882, in Japonisme, Japanese Influ
ence on French Art, 1854-1910, Cleveland, 1975, pp. 1-12.
49. Letter to his mother, November 12, 1864; D. G.

Rossetti, Family Letters, 2 vols., London, 1895, II, p. 180.
See also William Rossetti's memoir, ibid, I, p. 263.
38. Victoria and Albert Museum, Guide to the Japa

nese Textiles, p. 21, pi. x, no. 98.
51. See this chapter, note 36. At his death, Degas

owned over one hundred prints, drawings, and albums
by Japanese masters; Catalogue des estampes. . . collec
tion Edgar Degas, Htel Drouot, Paris, November 6-7,
1918, nos. 324-331.
39. Z. Astruc, "LEmpire du soleil levant, L'Etendard,

March 23, 1867. Sharon Flescher has kindly provided
me with photocopies of Astrucs articles on japonisme.
40. Lemoisne, no. 175; dated 1868, but more likely of
1866-1868. See Boggs, Portraits by Degas, p. 106.
41. J.-E. Blanche, Propos de peintre, de David Degas,
Paris, 1919, p. 54, describes Whistler wielding "a bam
boo mahlstick instead of a walking-stick.
42. In a self-portrait of this period, James Jacques

Joseph Tissot, no. , he appears in a similarly pensive
mood. Both works suggest something of the Romantic
notion of the melancholy artist; see W. Hoffman, The
Earthly Paradise, New York, 1961, pp. 227-231, pis. 56-61.
43. Lemoisne, no. 105; dated 1862. See also ibid., no.
116, dated ca. 1864, where his friend De Valemes appears
in a pose almost identical to Tissots; and the latters
portrait of Degas, ca. 1865, illustrated in ibid, I, opposite
p. 62.
44. F. Villot, Notice des tableaux.. .d u Muse Imprial
du Louvre, 3 vols., Paris, 1855, II, no. 99. It is one of sev
eral workshop replicas of an earlier portrait; see M.
Friedlnder and J. Rosenberg, Die Gemlde von Lucas
Cranach, Berlin, 1932, p. 58, no. 151.
45. On Tissot and Leys, see T. Gautier, Abcdaire du
Salon de 1861, Paris, 1861, pp. 338-342; on Leys and
German art, E. Chesneau, Les Nations rivales darts Van,
Paris, 1868, pp. 84-93.
46. For the drawings, see Notebook 14, pp. 15, 17,19,
22, 24-26; and Notebook 18, p. 115; used in 1859-1860
and 1859-1864, respectively. The photographs are listed
in Notebook 23, p. 40; used in 1868-1872.
47. Notebook 18, p. 194. It was the project for which
he also referred to a Clouet portrait; see this chapter,
note 26.
50. Unpublished painting in the Muse des BeauxArts, Dijon. Willard Misfeldt has kindly provided infor
mation on this and other works by Tissot of the 1860s,
in many cases known only from photographs in an
album constituted by the artist.
52. James Jacques Joseph Tissot, no. 9. It was evidently

inspired by the hunting scenes of Courbet and the picnic
scenes of Monet.
53. Not in Lemoisne. See Klipstein and Kornfeld,
Bern, Choix d une collection prive, October 22No
vember 30, 1960, no. 9; dated ca. 1865. See also the Chil
dren arid Ponies in a Park, Lemoisne, no. 171 ; dated ca.
1867.
54. Illustrated in Rewald, Histoiy o f Impressionism,
p. 77. It is also reminiscent of Monets Luncheon on the
Grass of 1866, illustrated in ibid., p. 119.
55. Hence the suggestion in J. Laver, VulgarSociety,"
The Romantic Career o f James Tissot, London, 1936, p. 13,
that it m ay form part of Tissots Faust and Marguerite
series, is unfounded. In view of Degass competitive
attitude toward Manet, it is worth noting that he, too,
depicted the Finding of Moses; see R. E. Krauss,
"Manets Nymph Surprised, Burlington Magazine, 109,
1967, pp. 622-623, fig. 20.
56. Villot, Notice des tableaux, III, no. 202. On the in
fluence of Veroneses version on French art at the time
of La Fosse, see K. T. Parker and J. Mathcy, Antoine
Watteau, catalogue complet de son oeuvre dessin, 2 vols.,
Paris, 1957,1, nos. 345, 352, and II, no. 859.
57. See Reff, New Light on Degas's Copies, pp.
255-256; and the illustration in Burlington Magazine,
105, 1963, p. 249, fig. 11.
58. Letter of September 18 [I860?]; quoted in Le
moisne, I, p. 230, note 45. Titians Assumption o f the Vir
gin is in Santa Maria dei Frari; Tintorettos St. Mark
Rescuing a Slave is in the Accademia.
315

59. Lemoisne, no. 255; dated ca. 1869. Degas implies
that it was recently completed in a note in Notebook 23.
p. 43; used in 1868-1872.
60. Raimondi, Degas e la sua famigtia, p. 150. See J . S.
Boggs, "Edgar Degas and Naples," Burlington Maga
zine, 105, 1963, pp. 275-276.
61. Lemoisne, no. 109; according to Ren de Gas, it
was painted in Paris early in 1863, during Thrses en
gagement.
62. Notebook 19, p. 11 ; drawn in March 1860. Its rela
tion to the portrait of Thrse was pointed out verbally
by Gerhard Fries.
63. See L. Eitner, "The Open Window and the StormTossed Boat," Art Bulletin, 37, 1955, pp. 281-287; and
J. A. Schmoll gen. Eisenwerth, "Fensterbilder," Beitrge
zur Motivkunde den 19. Jahrhunderts, ed. L. Grote,
Munich, 1970, especially pp. 82-143.
64. E. and J. de Goncourt, Germinie Lacerteux, Paris,
1897 [1st ed. 1865], pp. 2-3; English trans., New York,
1955. For other examples, see J. Dangelzer, La Descrip
tion du milieu dam le roman franais de Balzac Zola,
Paris, 1938, pp. 25-54, 135-151; and this chapter, note
170.
65. Catalogue des tableaux. . . collection Edgar Degas.
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 26-27, 1918, no. 4.
See L. Vaillat and P. Ratouis de Limay, J. B. Perronneau.
rev. ed., Paris, 1923, pp. 200,227; and Boggs, Portraits by
Degas, p. 31.
66
. But see the observations on his other early por

traits of her in Boggs. Portraits by Degas, pp. 17-18.
67. Letters from Thrse in Paris to her husband in
Naples, 1879-1881; quoted in Boggs, "Edgar Degas and
Naples, p. 276.
68
. See Boggs, Portraits by Degas, pp. 118,125, and the

works listed there.
69. See Lemoisne, 1, pp. 8-9,173. The late Paul Brame
kindly confirmed that three of these pastels had been
bought by his father. Hector Brame. Among them were
probably A. Besnard, Im Tour, Paris, 1928, no. 390 (iden
tical with no. 874), listed as "form er collection de Gast,"
and no. 326, lent to an exhibition in 1874 by "M. de Gas.
T. RetT, "Further Thoughts on Degas's Copies," Burling

ton Magazine, 113, 1971, p. 539, fig. 59.
72. See E. and J. de Goncourt, Journal mmoires de
la vie littraire, ed. R. Ricatte, 22 vols., Monaco, 1956, VI,
p. 164, dated December 30, 1863, and XVI, p. 201, dated
January , 1890.

likely of 1869-1871. since there are studies for it in
Notebook 25, pp. 36, 37, 39, which was used in those
years.
74. The engraving, by J. Harris, was published as
"Foress National Sports," pi. 2, on October 25, 1847. Its
presence in Sulking was discovered independently by
Ronald Pickvance; see Wildenstein, New York, Degas's
Racing World, March 21April 27, 1968, Introduction.
76. Notebook 18, p. 163; written in September-October 1861. He may already have owned by then the en
graving by Harris of another sporting picture by Herring
that is listed in Catalogue des estampes . . . collection
Edgar Degas, no. 199.
77. See P. Lafond, Degas, 2 vols., Paris, 1918-1919, II,
p. 5, where it is called The Office; however, in ibid, I,
p. 37, it is called Sulking.
78. See H. de Mirabai, Manuel des courses, Paris,
1867, pp. 407-408, 413-414; and H. Lee, Historique des
courses de chevaux, Paris, 1914, pp. 368-373, 398-399.
The first issue of the Journal des Courses, published by
Oiler, appeared on June 5, 1869.
79. See the description of such a bank in G. Rivire,
Mr. Degas, bourgeois de Paris, Paris, 1935, pp. 7-8; and
the studies cited in this chapter, note 73.
80. See Lemoisne, I, p. 83; and Lettres, p. 31, note 1.
The influence of Sulking is evident in a contemporary
work by De Valemes, The Visit to the Notary; see Muse
deCarpentras, De Valemes et Degas, May 19September
5, 1963, no. 31; also J.-L Vaudoyer, Beauts de la Pro
vence, Paris, 1926, p. 79.
81. See A. Scharf, Art and Photography, Baltimore,
1974, pp. 186-187; the photograph illustrated there post
dates the picture by more than twenty years.
70. See J.-E. Blanche, "Portraits de Degas, Formes,

12, February 1931, p. 22; and J. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas,
ed. P. Borel, Geneva, 1949, pp. 69-70, where, however,
Perronneau is not mentioned explicitly.
82. See C. de Toi nay, "The Syndics o f the Drapers

Guild by Rembrandt," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 23, 1943,
pp. 31-38; and Reff, New Light on Degas's Copies, p.
251, for his interest in Rembrandt.
71. Quoted in Vaillat and Ratouis de Limay, Perron

neau, pp. 144-146, where the revival of interest in him is
traced. At this time, too. Degas copied after a portrait by
La Tour that was formerly attributed to Perronneau; see
83. See, for example, D. C. Rich, Degas, New York,

1951, p. 62; and J. Bouret, Degas, New York, 1965, p. 81.
84. On their friendship, see L-E. Tabary, Duranty,
tude biographique et critique, Paris, 1954, pp. 146-149.
316
85. Notebook 23, pp. 44-47; used in 1868-1872. L. E.
Duranty, Sur la physionomie," La Revue Librale, 2,
1867, pp. 499-523.
86
. Lcmoisne, no. 517; dated 1879. See also the study

for it in the Metropolitan Museum [26] ; and Desboutins
etched portrait of Duranty, illustrated in Rewald, His
tory o f Impressionism, p. 377.
87. A. Silvestre, Au Pays des souvenirs, Paris, 1887, pp.
174-175. Similar descriptions are given in George
Moore's memoir, quoted in Rewald, History o f Impres
sionism, p. 435, note ; and in J. Claretic, La Vie Paris,
1880, Paris, 1881, p. 77.
88
. Lcmoisne, no. 198; signed and dated 1869. See T.

Reff, "Some Unpublished Letters of Degas, Art Bulle
tin, 50, 1968, p. 91.
89. Lcmoisne, no. 864; dated 1885-1895. In a letter to

Mme de Fleury, January' , 1884, Lettres, p. 76, Degas
mentions an intimate portrait, in which M. and Mme
Bartholome are represented in their city dress. For
photographs of them, see T. Burrollet, "Bartholom et
Degas, L Information de l Histoire de l'Art, 12,1967, pp.
119-126.
90. Lemoisne, no. 188; dated 1868-1869. Degas notes
two addresses of Pilet and an appointment with him, in
Notebook 24, pp. 33, 99, 117; used in 1869-1873.
91. See Y. Shinoda, Degas, der Einzug des Japanischen
in die franzsische Malerei, Tokyo, 1957, pp. 21-22.
92. Published in the scries Galerie de la Gazette
Musicale, no. 2, 1842. See also K riehubers lithograph
Une Matine chez Liszt, 1846, illustrated in R. Bor)', La
Vie de Frans Liszt par l'image, Paris, 1936, p. 124.
93. For portraits, see R. Bory, La Vie de Frdric
Chopin par l image, Paris, 1951, p. 138 (Chopin), p. 89
(Heine), p. 114 (Liszt), and p.
(Delacroix).
88
94. For portraits, see Bory, Frdric Chopin, p. 91

(Halvy), p. 89 (Berlioz); and Bory, Frans Liszt, p. 59
(Balzac).
86

(Gautier), p. 136 (Sand), p.
(Zalewski); and Boiy,
Frans Liszt, p. 56 (Musset).
(Hiller), p. 142 (Bocage), and p. 92 (Franchomme). For
help in identifying the figures in Degas's picture, I am
indebted to Mile Boschot of the Bibliothque de lOpra,
Paris.
97. F. Liszt, Frdric Chopin, F.ng. trans., New York,
1963, pp. 90-99; first published serially in La France
Musicale, 1851, and in book form, Paris, 1852.
98. Lemoisne, no. 186; dated 1868 -1869. On Degass
friendships with musicians at this time, see ibid, 1, pp.

58-60.
99. See T. Refi, Manets Portrait of Zola, Burlington
Magazine, 117, 1975, pp. 35-44.
100. Sec T. Relf, Pissarros Portrait of Czanne,
Burlington Magazine, 109, 1967, pp. 627-633. The back
ground images in Renoirs At the Inn o f Mother Anthony,
1866, play a similar role; see Reff, "M anet's Portrait of
Zola, p. 42, fig. 37.
101. Among others, the ones in Notebook 28, passim;
used in 1877. On his interest in caricature, see Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, pp. 53-54.
102. W. Sickert, "Degas, Burlington Magazine, 31,
1917, p. 186. The portrait is T.emoisne, no. 207; dated
1869.
103. He had been a mem ber of the orchestra since
1845, according to a chart in Paris, Archives Nationales,
AJ.xni.478: Personnel des choeurs et de l'orchestre de
lOpra.
104. Letter to Emile Perrin, Director of the Opera,
January 11, 1866; Archives Nationales, Aj.X7n.478. On
the musicians demands for tiigher wages, sec also Le
Temps, July 11, 1865, and subsequent issues.
105. See his open letter to the jury of the Salon of
1870; Reff, "Some Unpublished Letters, pp. 87-88.
106. Lemoisne, no. 326; dated ca. 1873, but more
likely of ca. 1878, as we shall sec.
107. Compare the appearance of the male figure in
Interior, Lemoisne, no. 348, who also leans against a
wall with his hands in his pockets.
108. See Boggs, Ponraits by Degas, p. 55; National
Gallery of Art, European Paintings from the Gulbenkian
Collection, Washington, 1950, pp. 28-29; and the letter
from Bernard Dorival cited there, p. 28, note 2.
109. See J. Rewald, Paul Czanne, London, 1950, pis.
42, 47 (photographs), pis. 41, 46 (self-portraits), pi. 42
(Renoir's portrait).
110. Catalogue de la 4me exposition de peinture, 28
Avenue de l'Opra, Paris, April 10May 11, 1879, no. 69.
See Lemoisne, I, p. 243, note 129.
111. Lemoisne, nos. 175, 337; dated 1868 and 18731879. According to Lemoisne, it was the latter that
Degas exhibited; according to Lafond, Degas, II, p. 15,
it was the former. Neither statement is supported by
the provenance given by Degas himself; and Lemoisne
compounds the error by placing Mr. H. M.-L. in
Montreal, probably because the Gulbenkian picture
was formerly in the collection of Sir George Drum
mond, Montreal.
317

112. L. E. Duranty, Rflexions dun bourgeois sur le
salon de la peinture, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 15, 1877,
p. 560. On Michel-Lvy and Monet, see L. Venturi, Les
Archives de l Impressionnisme, 2 vols., Paiis, 1939,1, pp.
248, 249, note 1.
113. Notebook 22, pp. 216, 221; used in 1867-1874.
Notebook 24, p. 117; used in 1869-1873.
114. R. Gimpel, Journal d u n collectionneur, Paris,
1963, pp. 262-263; dated March 27, 1924, recording
information given to Lucien Guiraud by Michel-Lvy'
himself. His sale of Degass portrait was listed in the
account book of the dealers Boussod and Valadon on
March 13, 1891; see J. Rewald, Theo Van Gogh,
Goupil, and the Impressionists, Gazette des BeauxArts, 81, 1973, p. 90.
115. Explication des ouvrages . . . exposs au Palais
des Champs-Elyses, Paris, 1878, no. 1435. See also the
review of his retrospective exhibition in La Chronique
des Arts, 48, 1911, p. 277.
116. Explication des ouvrages . . . exposes au Palais
des Champs-Elyses, Paris, 1879, no. 2147. The p h o to
graph was published by Goupil et Ci.
117. Catalogue des tableaux . . . atelier de M. M.-L.,
Htel Drouot, Paris, December 21, 1891, nos. 1-54.
Galerie Bemheim-Jeune, Paris, Exposition Henri
Michel-Lvy, November 20December 2, 1911, passim.
118. Catalogue des tableaux. . . collection H. MichelLvy, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 12-13, 1919. On
this sale, see La Chronique des Arts, 54, 1917-1919,
p. 191.
119. For similar observations on the mannequin, the
paintings, and his own position, trapped like an ani
mal in a comer, see Boggs, Portraits by Degas, pp.
55-56.
120. J. Auberty and C. Prusseaux, Jacques Villon,
catalogue de son oeuvre grav, Patis, 1950, no. 7.
121. Dated 1878, illustrated in Rewald, History o f
Impressionism, p. 427.
122. L. Vauxcelles, preface to the catalogue of the
Exposition Henri Michel-Lvy, cited in this chapter,
note 117.
123. Letter to Henri Lerolle, August 21, 1884, Lettres,
pp. 79-80. See also the letter to P.-A. Bartholom,
December 19, 1884; quoted in Chap. V, p. 215.
125. Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, Peintures et
aquarelles par Henri Rouart, March 20April 12, 1933,
preface bv P. Valry. For other examples of his art, see
the catalogue of a similar exhibition at Gaieties

Durand-Ruel, Paris, March 16-30, 1912. The late Louis
Rouart also expressed the opinion that the picture in
Degass portrait could not be one by his father.
8688
126. See G. Wildenstein, Ingres, London, 1956, nos.

, , 89, etc. (the Raphael"), nos. 46, 253 (the T into
retto). Also C. de Tolnay, 'Michel-Ange dans son
atelier par Delacroix, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 59, 1962,
pp. 43-52.
127. Lemoisne, no. 519; dated 1879. On his career
and contact with Degas, see L. Vitali, Three Italian
Friends of Degas, Burlington Magazine, 105, 1963,
pp. 269-270.
128. The only possibilities would be the w'orks by De
Nittis and Zandomeneghi, for winch see A. JahnRusconi, La Galleria d A rte Moderna a Firenze, Rome,
1934, pp. 17, 23. The inventory is now in Florence,
R. Biblioteca Marucelliana, Raccolta Martelli; I am in
debted to Lamberto Vitali for information on its con
tents.
129. Lemoisne, no. 520; dated 1879. For preparatory'
studies that show the background, see Notebook 31,
p. 25; Fifty Master Drawings in the National Gallery of
Scotland, Edinburgh, 1961, no. 49; and J. S. Boggs,
Drawings by Degas, Greenwich, 1967, no. .
88
130. Lemoisne, no. 581; dated 1880, but more likely

of 1879, since it seems to be the work Degas lists
among those he plans to show in the Impressionist
exhibition of 1879, in Notebook 31, pp. , . For other
versions, see this chapter, note 13.
6668
131. See F. A. Sweet, Miss Mary Cassatt, Norman,

1966, p. 50. Compare the appearance of Lydia in ibid.,
pis. iv, 10, contemporary genre pictures by Cassatt, on
which see ibid, pp. 51, 64-65.
132. SeeShinoda, Degas, der Einzug des Japanischen,
pp. 81-82, pis. 73-74; and especially C. F. Ives, The
Great Wave: The Influence o f Japanese Woodcuts on
French Prints, New York, 1974, pp. 36-38.
133. Sweet, Miss Mary Cassatt, p. 50; see also ibid.,
pp. 32-33, 39-40, on her friendship with Degas. The
studies are in Notebook 33, pp. verso, 9, 15; used in
1879-1882. Another study is illustrated in Boggs, Draw
ings by Degas, no. 85.
134. Villot, Notice des tableaux, II, no. 441; it was

hung then in the Grande Galerie. Degas's drawing is in
Notebook 33, p. 1, and on its verso he observed with
equal concern for accuracy: In the Grande Galerie the
black draperies and silk hangings are lighter than the
dark pictures.
318
135. Adhemar, no. 54; dated 1879-1880. Illustrated
above is the third state. F or further details, see Univer
sity of Chicago, Etchings by Edgar Degas, May 4June
12, 1964, no. 30.
136. H. OShea, Les Musees du Louvre, guide popu
late, Paris, 1892, p. 398. On contem porary attitudes to
E truscan art, see Staatlichen K unstsam m lungen,
Dresden, Dialoge: Kopie, Variation und Metamorphose
alter K u n st. . . , Septem ber 27December 31,1970, no.
189.
137. See Degass letters to Bracquem ond and Pis
sarro, 1879-1880, Lettres, pp. 45-55.
138. See H. J. Gourley III, "Tissots in the Museums
Collection, Bulletin o f the Rhode Island School o f
Design, 50, March 1964, pp. 3-4, figs. 8-9; and James
Jacques Joseph Tissot, no. 37. Not identified there is the
statue of Dionysos (Louvre 222) at the extrem e right.
139. Atelier, IV, no. 250a.
140. Lemoisne, no. 869; dated 1886. Reproduced in
color in Boggs, Portraits by Degas, pi. 124.
141. For the studies, see Lemoisne, nos. 870, 870 bis,
871, all signed and dated 1886; and Notebook 37, pp.
204-207, used in 1882-1886.
142. For a sim ilar comparison, see Boggs, Portraits
by Degas, p.
. The appearance and atm osphere of
R ouarts hom e are vividly evoked in Blanche, Propos
de peintre, pp. 245-276.
68
143. See F. Petrie, Shabtis, London, 1935, pis. xuv,

xlv; and Gimpel, Journal d u n colleclionneur, p. 418,
dated April 30, 1930, recording inform ation given by
Louis Rouart. I am indebted to the latter for discussing
his collection with me.
144. For the exam ple illustrated here, see H. d Ardenne de Tizac, The Stuffs o f China, Weavings and
Embroideries, London. 1924, p. 12, pi. 34.
145. Fevre, Mon Oncle Degas, p. 50. On the early
copies, see T. Reff, Addenda on Degass Copies,"
Burlington Magazine, 107, 1965, pp. 320-323.
146. Catalogue des tableaux . . . collection de feu
M. Henri Rouart, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, Decem
ber 9-11, 1912, nos. 104-149, passim; the Naples land
scape, dated 1828, is no. 144. See Musee de lOrangerie,
Paris, Degas, March-April 1937, no. 44.
147. D. Baud-Bovv, Corot, Geneva, n. d. [1957], pp.
38-41. On R ouart's preference for the early Corot, see
Blanche, Propos de peintre, p. 274.
148. Catalogue des dessins . . . collection de feu
M. Henri Rouart, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, Decem
ber 16-18, 1912, nos. 209-266, passim; the drawing of a

peasant woman is no. 231.
149. Blanche, Propos de peintre, p. 270. On R ouarts
acquaintance with Millet, see Lemoisne, I, pp. 145-146.
150. See his letters to P.-A. Bartholom e and Ludovic
Halevy, w ritten from Naples in January 1886, Lettres,
pp. 113-119; and Boggs, "E dgar Degas and Naples,
p. 276.
151. Notebook 19, p. ; written in M arch 1860.

152. Not in Lemoisne. See Catalogue des tableaux
. . . collection Edgar Degas, Hotel Drouot, Paris,
N ovem ber 15-16, 1918, no. 42 (as "Ecole m oderne);
and Catalogue des tableaux . . . collection de Mile
J. F&vre, Galerie Chaipentier, Paris, June 12, 1934,
no. 142.
153. Letter of June 30, 1898, Lettres, p. 223. For the
Corots he owned, see Catalogue des tableaux. . . collec
tion Edgar Degas, M arch 26-27, 1918, nos. 16-22. On
his adm iration for th at m aster, see Baud-Bovy, Corot,
pp. 130, 268.
154. Catalogue des tableaux . . . collection Edgar
Degas, March 26-27, 1918, nos. 82, 231.
155. Sickert, Degas, p. 186.
156. See this chapter, note 4. In the letter to P.-A.
Bartholome, August 27, 1892, cited there, Degas char
acteristically refers only to the technical problem of
representing an interior in correct perspective.
157. Lemoisne, no. 1115; dated 189Z There is also
another, less finished version, ibid, no. 1114. On the
circum stances in which they were painted, see S.
Barazzetti, Degas et ses amis Valpincon, Beaux-Arts,
no. 192, Septem ber 4, 1936, p. I.
158. See Chap. II, notes 20, 21.
159. Duranty, I m Nouvelle Peinture, pp. 45-46.
160. For inform ation on this and the following work,
1 am indebted to the late Paul Brame, who m ade an
inventory of the collection at Menil-Hubert after the
Second World War.
161. Not listed in A. Mezzetti, "Contributi alia pittura
italiana dell 800, Bollettino d'Arte, 40, 1955, pp. 244258, 334-335; but see p. 339, fig. 20, a similar work
dated 1866.
162. See Chap. II, p. 69; and Chap. VII, p. 297.
163. See Eitner, "The Open W indow, pp. 285-287;
and Donat de Chapeaurouge, Das Milieu als Portrt,
Wallraf-R ichartz-Jahrbuch, 22, 1960, pp. 137-158.
319
Notes: Pictures w ithin Pictures

164. Catalogue des tableaux . . . collection Edgar
Degas, March 26-27, 1918; no. 31. See Paul Poujauds
letter to Marcel Gurin, January' 15, 1933, Lettres, p.
253; and M. Srullaz, Mmorial de l'Exposition Eugne
Delacroix, Paris, 1963, no. 193.
165. Lemoisne, nos. 1288, 1454; dated ca. 1897 and
ca. 1906.
166. See L. Hoctin, "Degas photographe, L Oeil, no.
65, May 1960, pp. 36-43; and the photographs repro
duced in D. Halvy, My Friend Degas, trans. M. Curtiss,
Middletown, 1964, opposite pp. 64, 81.
167. See L. Venturi, Czanne, son art, son oeuvre, 2
vols., Paiis, 1936, nos. 494, 496, 706, 707; and G. Wildenstein, Gauguin, Paris, 1964, especially nos. 183,
375, 604, but also nos. 174, 287, 377, 380, etc. For ex
amples in earlier art, see this chapter, note .
168. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, pp. 44-46. In his

"Salon de 1870," Paris-Joumal, May , 1870, Duranty
had mildly criticized Degass portrait of Mme Camus,
Lemoisne, no. 271, for its lack of "the agreement, to
which he normally attaches such importance, between
the figure and the interior.
169. Lemoisne, nos. 320, 321, 323; all dated 1873.
170. See J. C. Lapp, Zola before the RougonMacquart, Toronto, 1964, pp. 96-98, 124-125; and
Chap. V, pp. 204-208.
171. See RefF, "New Light on Degass Copies, pp.
250-256, and the memoir by Thibault-Sisson cited
there, p. 252, note 31. According to Fvre, Mon Oncle
Degas, pp. 52-53, he was able to reproduce a Corot so
well that his colleagues took it for the original.
172. See also the studies for a projected portrait of
Mme Rouart and Hlne contemplating a Tanagra
figurine in their collection; Boggs, Portraits by Degas,
pp. 67-68, pis. 122-123.
173. See Reff, Addenda on Degass Copies," p. 230;
and P. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, trans. D. Paul,
New York, 1960, pp. 24-25, from Degas danse dessin,
Paris, 1936.
174. For further examples, some more convincing
than others, see Shinoda, Degas, der Eirtzug des
Japanischen, passim; Ives, The Great Wave, pp. 34-44;
and Weisberg, Japonisme, pp. 12-14, 46-49.
175. E.g., in Chastel, Le Tableau dans le tableau,
pp. 26-27.
176. Illustrated in Rewald, History o f Impressionism,
p. 355 (Renoirs); J. Rewald, Post-Impressionism from
van Gogh to Gauguin, New York, 1956, pp. 47 (Van
Gogh), 309 (Gauguin).
177. Illustrated in Hofmann, The Earthly Paradise,

pi. 178 (Fantin-Latour); Rewald, History o f Impres
sionism, p. 235 (Bazille); and Rewald, Post-Impression
ism p. 107 (Seurat). See also Corot's Studio, which is
contemporary with, and compositionally similar to,
Degass portrait of Tissot; illustrated in Hofmann,
p i. VI.
178. See M.-L. Bataille and G. Wildenstein, Berthe

Morisot, Paris, 1961, no. 19 (the fan is Lemoisne, no.
173); Wildenstein, Gauguin, no. 131 (the pastel is
Lemoisne, no. 699); and Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris,
Collection Jean WalterPaul Guillaume, 1966, no. 31
(the paintings are Lemoisne, nos. 486, 702).
179. I am grateful to the following for arranging to
have detail photographs made: Hlne Adhmar,
Muse de lImpressionnisme, Paris; Peter Gimpel,
Gimpel Fils, Ltd., London; and Mlle Minet, formerly
Collection David-Weill, Paris.
IV.
1. Letter to Maurice Fabne, 1895; O. Redon, Lettres,

1878-1916, Paris, 1923, pp. 22-23.
2. J. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, ed. P. Borel, Geneva,
1949, pp. 72-73; this is, however, a biased, somewhat
unreliable source.
3. P. Valry', Degas Manet Morisot, trans. D. Paul,
New York, 1960, p. 62; from Degas danse dessin, Paris,
1936.
5. Valery, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 63. On Degass
poetry and its relation to his painting, see also Huit
Sonnets d E dgar Degas, Paris, 1946, preface by J.
Nepveu-Degas, especially pp. 6-7, 14-22.
. Letter to P.-A. Bartholom, September 9, 1882,

Lettres, p. 69. On their literary quality, see George
Moores letter to Daniel Halvy, 1931, ibid, pp. 259-261.
7. See Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, pp. 50
51, 71-73; and
Huit Sonnets d Edgar Degas, Preface, p. 11.
. On these developments, see L. Hautecoeur,

Littrature et peinture en France du x v i i e au XXe sicle,
Paris, 1942, Chaps. IV, V, VI, where, however, there is
little on Degass contacts with particular writers or
texts.
9. The standard account, in Lemoisne, I, pp. 41-45,
focuses on a few m ajor works, ignoring a score of
other projects in small canvases, drawings, and note
books. I plan to discuss all this materia! on another
occasion.
320
10. Fvrc, Mon Oncle Degas, pp. 50, 72, 117. Flau
berts correspondence was first published in 1887-1893.
11. D. Halvv, My Friend Degas, trans. M. Curtiss,
Middletown, 1964, pp. 41-43, 97. Perhaps inspired by
one of Dumass Musketeer novels is the small panel
The Duel, ca. 1865; not in Lemoisne; see Catalogue des
tableaux . . . succession Georges Viau, Htel Drouot,
Paris, December 11, 1942, no. .
86
12. Notebook 21, p. 9 verso; used in 1865-1868.

Baudelaires Thophile Gautier, notice littraire, had
appeared in 1859.
13. Collection the late Jean Nepveu-Degas, Paris,
who kindly allowed me to consult his unpublished
family papers. It must have been written in July 1869,
since it refers to Scherer's article on Baudelaire, w'hich
appeared then.
14. P. Pool, The I liston,' Pictures of Rdgar Degas
and Their Background, Apollo, 80, 1964, p. 310.
15. R. Gimpcl, Journal d un collectionneur, Paris,
1963, p. 186; dated April 27, 1921. Gautiers rem ark is
quoted in Pool, "History Pictures of Edgar Degas,
p. 310, with no indication of its source.
16. Herodotus, I. 10; trans. A. D. Godley, London,

1920. Beneath the first study, in Notebook , p. 63,
Degas cites Herodotus, I. 7-12; the other studies are in
Notebook , pp. 62 (illustrated above), 60-54, 40, 36-35;
used in 1856.
17. T. Gautier, "Le Roi Candaule, Nouvelles, Paris,

1923 [1st ed. 1845], p. 400; trans. F. C. de Sumichrast,
London, n.d.
18. Dayton Ait Institute, Jean-Lon Grme. No

vember 10December 30, 1972, no. .
19. Notebook , pp. 53-51, 48-44, 40. DHancarvilles

four-volume work was published at Florence, 1801
1808.
20. Gautier, "Le Roi Candaule, p. 398.
21. Ibid. On his use of other ancient sources for this
story, see L. B. Dillingham, The Creative Imagination o f
Thophile Gautier, Bn'n Mawr, 1927, pp. 157-158.
22. Ibid, pp. 154-157. See also A. Coleman, "Some
Sources of the Roman de la Momie," Modem Philology,
19, 1921-1922, pp. 337-360.
likely of 1859-1860. For copies of Egyptian art, includ
ing some in Notebook 18, pp. 85-86, datable 1859-1860,
see T. Rett', Addenda on Degass Copies," Burlington
Magazine, 107, 1965, pp. 320-323; on his enthusiasm for
The Romance o f the Mummy, Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas
p. 50.
24. See Judges 11; 29-40; and especially W. O. Sypherd, Jephthah and His Daughter, Newark, 1949, pp. 227234, on earlier pictorial representations.
25. See E. Mitchell, La Fille de Jepht par Degas,
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 18, 1937, pp. 183-184, fig. 15;
also figs. , 16.
11
26. See Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, p. 117; and A. de

Vigny, Pomes, ed. F. Baldensperger, Paris, 1914, pp.
383-403, on the many nineteenth-century editions.
27. Ibid, pp. 57-60; from Posies, Paris, 1822.
28. See Sypherd, Jephthah and His Daughter, pp.
129-180, for literary treatments before ca. I860.
29. See J. G. Clemenceau le Clercq, L Inspiration
biblique dans l oeuvre potique d A lfred de Vigny, Annemasse, 1937, pp. 46-58. On his interest in the visual
arts, see M. Citoleux, Vigny et les beaux-arts, Revue
Universitaire, 31, 1922, pp. 194-208, 276-292.
30. G. Sand, La Mare au diable, ed. P. Salomon and
J. Mailion, Paris, 1956 [1st ed. 1846], pp. 161-162; traas.
J. M. and E. Sedwick, Boston, 1894. Degas transcribed
the entire passage from "Her cornet of light cotton to
more profound and idealistic, but without identify
ing it. I am indebted to Jean Seznec for doing that.
31. Notebook 18, pp. 209 (illustrated above), 212;
used in 1859-1864.
32. See Muse du Louvre, Inventaire gnral des
dessins des coles du nord, matres des ancierts Pays-Bas
ns avant 1550, ed. F. Lugt, Paris, 1968, no. 14.
33. Sand, La Mare au diable, pp. 4-5, 6-7.
34. Ibid., Introduction, p. v. On her interest in the
visual arts, see M. LHpital, La Notion d artiste chez
George Sand, Paris, 1946, pp. 49-51, 162-170.
35. P. Ganz, The Paintings o f Hans Holbein, London,
1956, pis. 55, 47. A study for the Solothum Virgin's
head is in the Louvre.
36. Lemoisne, no. 173; dated 1867-1869. For the
identification of Musset, see Orangerie des Tuileries,
Paris, Degas, 1937, no. 185.
37. See M. Allem, Alfred de Musset, Paris, 1911, pp.
165, 173, 181, 187; and especially M. Clouard, Docu
ments indits sur Alfred de Musset, Paris, 1900, pp.
13-19, on Charles Landelle's well-know'n portrait.
38. Letter to Edm a Morisot, March 18, 1869;
B. Morisot, Correspondance, ed. D. Rouart, Paris, 1950,
p. 23; trans. B. W. Hubbard, London, 1957.
39. M.-L. Bataille and G. Wildenstein, Berthe Mori
sot, Paris, 1961, no. 19.
321
Notes: The Artist and the Writer

40. P. Jamot and G. Wildenstein, Manet, 2 vols.,
Paris, 1932, nos. 150, 48. A. de Leiris, The Drawings of
Edouard Manet, Berkeley, 1969, no. 175.
42. C. Gould, National Gallery Catalogues, The Sixteenth-Century Venetian School, London, 1959, pp.
59-61.
43. See Clouard, Documents indits sur Alfred de
Musset, pp. 91-97, 106-109.
44. A. de Musset, Oeuvres compltes en prose, ed.
M. Allem and P. Courant, Paris, 1960, pp. 412-453. On
his own interest in the visual arts, see R. Bouyer,
Musset, critique d art, Revue Bleue, 48, 1910,
pp. 789-792.
45. Notebook 28, pp. 46-47; used in 1877. See
J. Canu, Barbey d Aurevilly, Paris, 1965, pp. 379-380.
46. See J.-P. Seguin, Iconographie de Barbey
d Aurevilly, Geneva, 1961, pl. 84 and caption; also the
description of Barbey by Octave Uzanne, quoted in
ibid, pl. 89 caption.
47. Notebook 29, p. 33; used in 1877-1880. See
E. Degas, Album de dessins, Paris, 1949, Preface by D.
Haivy, unpaged, on the sketches of Barbey.
48. Haivy, My Friend Degas, pp. 61-62.
49. J.-E. Blanche, Propos de peintre, de David
Degas, Paris, 1919, p. 303.
50. Notebook 22, p. ; used in 1867-1874. Barbeys

aphorism appeared in Le Nain Jaune, April 7, 1867, as
Quelques bouts d'ides, no. cxxtx.
51. See his letters to P.-A. Bartholome, August 16,
1884, and September 9, 1889, Lettres, pp. 79, 133. Ac
cording to D. Haivy, Pays parisiens, Paris, 1929, p. 52,
Degas illustrated one of the episodes in The Arabian
Nights.
52. See W. Rothenstein, Men and Memories, 3 vols.,
New York, 1931-1938, I, p. 159; and this chapter, note
54.
53. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, p. 73.
54. Ibid., p. 73, note 1. On Maupassant and the visual
arts, see A. Vial, Guy de Maupassant et la n du roman,
Paris, 1954, pp. 335-338; and G. de Lacaze-Duthicrs,
Guy de Maupassant critique dart," Revue Mondiale,
166, 1925, pp. 169-172.
55. See F. Steegmuller, Maupassant, A Lion in the
Path, New York, 1949, pp. 402-403. Degass monotypes
of brothels, although later used by Vollard to "illus
trate" an edition of the book, were not, of course,
conceived as such.
56. See M. Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme,

Duranty, Paris, 1964, p. 335. According to Lemoisne, I,
pp. 49-50, they had met as early as 1861-1863.
335-336.
likely of 1869-1871. See Chap. Ill, pp. 117-119, on which
the following is partly based.
59. L. E. Duranty, "Sur la physionomie," La Revue
Librale, 2, 1867, pp. 499-523. Notebook 23, pp. 44 -47;
used in 1868-1872.
60. Notebook 25, pp. 36, 37 (illustrated above), 39;
used in 1869-1872.
61. L. E. Duranty, "Le Salon de 1869, Paris, May 14,
1869; quoted in Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme, p.
337. On his art criticism, see also R. Baschet, La
Critique d'art de Duranty, Re\ue des Sciences Hu
maines, no. 125, 1967, pp. 125-135. The portrait is
Lemoisne, no. 165; signed and dated 1867.
315-316; and L. E. Duranty, Le Peintre Louis Martin,
Le Pays des arts, Paris, 1881, pp. 315-350.
63. l emoisne, no. 273; dated 1870. See T. Reff, New
Light on Degas's Copies, Burlington Magazine, 106,
1964, p. 255; and Duranty, "Le Peintre Louis Martin,
pp. 335-336.
64. Ibid., p. 337.
65. Ibid., p. 335. Duranty was, however, also critical
of Degass work at this time; see Crouzet, Un Mconnu
du Ralisme, p. 335.
66
. L. E. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, ed. M.

Gurin, Paris, 1946 [1st ed. 1876], p. 43. He identified
Degas explicitly in annotating a copy of the pam
phlet; see O. Reuterswrd, "An Unintentional Exegete
of Impressionism, Konsthistorisk Tijdskrift, 4, 1949,
p.
.
112
67. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, p. 45.
68
. Ibid. The works alluded to are Portraits in an

Office, Dancers Preparing for the Ballet, and Laundress
Ironing, Lemoisne, nos. 320, 512, 356, respectively; all
were exhibited in 1876.
69. H. Thuli, Du Roman, description, Ralisme,
no. 3, January 15, 1857, p. 38. On the periodical
Ralisme and Henry' Thuli's part in it, see Crouzet, Un
Mconnu du Ralisme, pp. 66-74.
70. See ibid, pp. 652-660.
322
71. E. Zola, Les Romanciers naturalistes, 1881,
Oeuwes compltes, ed. H. M itterand, 15 vols., Paris,
19661969, XI, pp. 74-76.
87. E. Zola, L Assommoir, 1877, Oeuvres compltes,

III, pp. 705-706; trans. A. Symons, New York, 1924. The
painting is Lemoisne, no. 356; dated ca. 1874.
72. Ibid. See also his definition of description as "the

necessary' portrayal of the milieu, in Le Roman
exprimental, 1881, Oeuvres compltes, X, p. 1301.
. Zola, L'Assommoir, pp. 713-714. The Laundress is

not in Ijemoisne: see G. Bazin, French Impressionist
Paintings in the Louvre, New York, 1966, pp. 276, 306.
73. E. Zola, "Deux expositions d'art au mois de

m ai, Le Messager de l'Europe, June 1876, Oeuvres
compltes, XII, pp. 970-971. See the latest anthology of
his art criticism, Le lion Combat, ed. J.-P. Bouillon,
Paris, 1974, with full bibliography, pp. 318-330, and
G. Picon's essay, "Zola et ses peintres, pp. 7-22.
74. E. Zola, "Le N aturalism e au Salon, Le Voltaire,
June 18-22,1880, Oeuvres compltes, XII, pp. 1013-1014.
75. E. Zola, Notes parisiennes, Le Smaphore de
Marseille, April 19, 1877, Oeuvres compltes, XII, p. 975.
76. Letter to J.-K. H uysmans, May 10, 1883, Oeuvres
compltes, XIV, p. 1427. The sam e description occurs in
E. and J. de Concourt, Journal, mmoires de la vie
littraire, ed. R. Ricatte, 22 vols., Monaco, 1956, XV, pp.
109-110; dated May , 1888.
77. G. Moore, Impressions and Opinions, London,

1891, p. 319.
78. Halvy, M y Friend Degas, p. 41.
79. Ib id See also G. Rivire, Mr. Degas, bourgeois de
Paris, Paris, 1935, p. 142, quoting his rejection of "the
exaggeration of a N aturalism turned into debauchery
in Zolas novels.
80. Valry', Degas Manet Morisot, p. 84, quoting
Berthe Morisots recollections of Degas.
81. Ib id See also the story told here of Degass
sarcastic rem ark to Daudet.
82. Moore, Impressions and Opinions, pp. 298-299.
On M oores contacts with French writers, and espe
cially Zola, see G.-P. Collet, George Moore et la France,
Geneva, 1957, pp. 19-21, 122-147.
83. L etter to Lucien Pissarro, February 5, 1886;
C. Pissarro, Lettres son fils Lucien, ed. J. Rewald,
Paris, 1950, p. 93; trans. L. Abel, New York, 1943.
84. See Lemoisne, I, p. 237, note 114; and Zola,
O euwes compltes, III, p. 947.
85. See this chapter, note 73. Neither did Degas
m ention the resemblance, when he later acknowledged
having read The Dram-Shop; see Halvy, My Friend
Degas, p. 41.
86
. See Lemoisne, I, p. 236, note 111; and E. Zola,

U s Rougon-Macquart, ed. A. Lanoux and H. Mitterand,
5 vols., Paris, 1960-1967, II, pp. 1541-1542.
88
89. Zola, L'Assommoir, pp. 707, 711.

90. Concourt, Journal, X, pp. 163-164; dated Feb
ruary 13, 1874.
91. Remark reponed by Mme Emile Straus to Marcel
Guiin; see Lettres, p. 147, note 1. On Zolas repeated
visits to Parisian departm ent stores, see Zola, RougonMacquart, III, p. 1677.
92. Lemoisne, no. 682; signed and dated 1882. The
others in the scries are nos. 681, 683, 684, etc., also of
1882.
93. G. Moore, Confessions o f a Young Man, ed. S.
Dick, Montreal, 1972 fist ed. 1888], p. 69. According to
Berthe Morisot, Degas "professed the liveliest adm ira
tion for the intensely hum an quality of young shop
girls ; see this chapter, note 80.
94. E. Zola, Au Bonheur des Dames, 1882, Oeuvres
compltes, IV, pp. 906-908; trans. A. Fitzlyon, London,
1958.
95. Lemoisne, no. 393; dated 1876. Zola, L A ssommoir, pp. 868-869. The quotation is from Bazin, French
Impressionist Paintings, p. 180; but given its date,
Absinthe can hardly have been inspired by that
novel.
96. Lemoisne, no. 499; dated 1878-1879. E. Zola,
L A rgent, 1891, Oeuxres compltes, VI, pp. 354, 574, etc.
See Bibliothque Nationale, Paris, Emile Zola, 1952, no.
422.
97. J.-K. H uysmans, L A rt moderne, 1883, Oeuvres
compltes, ed. L. Descaves, 18 vols., Paris, 1928-1934,
VI, pp. 136-137.
98. Rivire, Mr. Degas, pp. 104-107. On their relation
to the visual arts, see A. Brookner, The Genius o f the
Future, London, 1971, pp. 121-144; also K. V. Maur,
"E dm ond de Goncourt et les artistes de la fin du xix*
sicle, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 72, 1968, pp. 214-217.
99. Moore, Impressions and Opinions, p. 308, report
ing a conversation that took place at the Cirque Fer
nando.
100. Lemoisne, no. 522; dated 1879. On its sources,
see M. Davies, National Gallety Catalogues, French
School, Early 19th Century, etc., London, 1970,
pp. 51-53.
323
N otes: The A rtist a n d the Writer

101. Rivire, Mr. Degas, pp. 104-107.
102. E. de Goncourt, Les Frres Zemganno, Paris,
1891 [ls te d . 1879], pp. 55-57.
103. J. Barbey d Aurevilly, "Les Frres Zem ganno,
Le Constitutionnel, May 12, 1879; quoted in H. Trudgian, L Evolution des ides esthtiques de J.-K. Huysmans, Paris, 1934, pp. 120-121.
104. Notebook 28, pp. 13 verso-14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23,
33; used in 1877. See E. de Goncourt, La Fille Elisa,
Paris, 1877, pp. 113-121.
105. Ibid., pp. iii-v. By contrast, when ToulouseLautrec began to illustrate La Fille Elisa ca. 1896sup
posedly at the urging of Degas, am ong othershe
depicted all its aspects and characters; see the fac
simile edition with his watercolors, Paris, 1931.
106. See G. GefTroy, Constantin Guys, l'historien du
Second Empire, Paris, 1904, pp. 144-148; and R. Ricatte,
La Gense de La Fille Elisa," Paris, 1960, pp. 140-154.
107. Goncourt, Journal, XXI, p. 41; dated April 22,
1895. See also J. Adhmar, "Lettres adresses aux
G oncourt, concernant les beaux-arts, conserves la
Bibliothque N ationale, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 72,
1968, p. 235.
108. Goncourt, Journal, XIII, p. 22; dated March 31,
1883. See also ibid, XII, pp. 100, 114, dated January 29
and May 15,1881; XIV, p. 197, dated February 14, 1887;
etc.
109. Notebook 31, p. 85; used in 1878-1879. Similar
sketches are in this notebook, pp. 84, 92, 96; in Note
book 28, p. 72, used in 1877; etc. See the photographs in
L. Deiloux, Chronique de l A cadmie Goncourt, Paris,
1909, opposite pp. 40, 112.
86
110. Letter to Ludovic Halvy, 1884, lettres, p.

.
See also the letters to Henri Rouart, May 2, 1882, and
P.-A. Bartholom, ca. 1885, ibid., pp. 63, 107.
111. Goncourt, Journal, X, pp. 164-165; dated Feb
ruary 13, 1874. See also ibid., XV, p. , dated February
26, 1888, a pointed attack on Degas, Raffalli, and
others.
86
115. Rothenstein, M en and Memories, I, p. 159. See

also E dm onds bitter rem arks, in Goncourt, Journal,
XV, pp. 109-110; dated May , 1888.
116. These parallels were first drawn by F Fosca

[Tras], E dm ond et Jules de Goncourt, Paris, 1941, pp.
357-359, but vyith little attem pt to analyze their m ean
ing.
117. Goncourt, Journal, V, pp. 72-73; dated March
12, 1862. For other relevant passages, see ibid., IV, pp.
162-163, dated March , 1861, and VI, pp. 70-71, dated
May 22, 1863. Degass Ballet is Lemoisne, no. 476;
dated ca. 1878.
118. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 97, quoting

Ernest R ouart's reminiscences of Degas. On his early
interest in Rem brandt, see Reff, "New Light on Degas's
Copies, p. 251.
119. See Ricatte, La Cration romanesque chez les
Goncourt, p. 59.
120. Letter to Lucien Pissarro, May 13, 1883; Pis
sarro, Lettres son fils Lucien, pp. 44-45.
121. P. Ward-Jackson, "Art Historians and Art
Critics VIII: H uysm ans, Burlington Magazine, 109,
1967, p. 618. For a m ore positive view, see H. Jouvin,
"H uysm ans critique d art, Cahiers J.-K. Huysmans, no.
20, 947, pp. 356-375.
122. J.-K. Huysmans, untitled review, Gazette des
Amateurs, 1876, Oeuvres compltes, VI, pp. 130-131.
123. J.-K. Huysmans, "Les Folies-Bergre en 1879,
Croquis parisiens, 1880, Oeuvres compltes, VIII, pp. 1920; trans. R. Griffiths, London, 1960. Degas's Dancers
is Lemoisne, no. 572; dated ca. 1879.
124. See M. Harry', Trois Ombres, Paris, 1932, pp.
26-27; and R. Baldick, The Life o f J.-K. Huysmans,
Oxford, 1955, p. 60.
125. J.-K. H uysmans, En Mnage, 1881, Oeuvres
compltes, IV, pp. 119-120. The pictures cited are
Lemoisne, nos. 544, 783; dated ca. 1879 and ca. 1884.
113. J. Elias, Degas, Die Neue Rundschau, 28,1917,

p. 1566. On the significance of Manette Salomon for
Degas, see Lemoisne, I, pp. 98-99.
126. For example, Backstage at the Opera in 1880

(sale, Htel Drouot, Paris, June 10, 1937, no. 36) and
Behind the Scenes (sale, Sothebys, London, July 3,
1968, no. 1). See J. Jacquinot, "Deux amis: Huysm ans
et Forain, Cahiers J.-K. Huysmans, no. 38, 1959,
pp. 440-449.
114. See R. Ricatte, La Cration romanesque chez les

Goncourt, 1851-1870, Paris, 1953, pp. 365-366, 370, note
189. Degass Laundresses is Lemoisne, no. 410; dated
1876-1878.
127. H uysmans, "Les Folies-Bergre en 1879,"

Croquis parisiens, pp. 15-17. Oil its relation to L es Frres
Zemganno, see Trudgian, L'Evolution des ides esth
tiques de J.-K. Huysmans, pp. 120-121.
112. Ibid, X, p. 164, note 1, an addendum o f 1891.
324
128. M. Gurin, J.-L. Forain, aquafortiste, 2 vols.,
Paris, 1912,1, nos. 17, 20. See Huysmans comments on
F orains paintings of these subjects, in L Art moderne,
pp. 122-123.
129. Ibid, p. 137.
130. J. S. Boggs, Drawings by Degas, Greenwich,
1967, no. 84.
131. Interesting in this respect are Degass remarks:
"Art is vice. One does not m an y it, one rapes it.
Whoever says art, says artifice. Art is dishonest and
cruel. J.-M. Lhte, Les Mots de Degas, Paris, 1967,
p. 41.
132. See, for example, Cachin, no. 113, dated ca.
1880; and J.-K. Huysmans, Marthe, histoire d une fille,
1876, Oeuvres compltes, II, pp. 34-35.
133. Ibid., p. 35; trans. S. Putnam, Chicago, 1927, but
here revised where necessary. For the history of its
publication, see ibid, pp. 141-148.
134. Cachin, no. 87; dated ca. 1880.
135. Cachin, no. 97; dated ca. 1880. On the series of
brothel monotypes, see ibid., pp. xxvii-xxix; and E. P.
Janis, Degas Monotypes, Cambridge, 1967, pp. xix-xxi,
where, however, a specific relation to H uysmans novel
is denied.
136. Gurin, J.-L. Forain, I, nos. 12, 13. However, in
L'Art moderne, pp. 125-126, Huysmans expresses ad
miration for Forains brothel scenes, especially for one
entitled The Client (sale, Nicolas Rauch, Geneva, June
13-15, 1960, no. 447).
138. L. Halvy, "Carnets, Revue des Deux Mondes,
42, 1937, p. 823; dated April 15, 1879. On his early
contacts with the Opera, see E. Brieux, Discours de
rception l A cadmie franaise, Paris, 1910, pp. 11-13.

143. Cachin, no. 67; dated ca. 1880, but more likely
of ca. 1878. See also the related image, ibid., no. .
66
144. Halvy, La Famille Cardinal, pp. 68-70.

145. Ibid., pp. 23-28. The monotypes are Cachin, nos.
81 (illustrated above), 82.
146. See Janis, Degas Monotypes, pp. xxi-xxii, based
on information from Mina Curtiss, who had access to
the Halvy archives.
147. E. Zola, review of La Cigale, Le Bien Public,
October 15, 1877, Oeuvres completes, XI, p. 716. For the
stage directions, see H. Meilhac and L. Halvy, La
Cigale, Thtre, vols.. Paris, 1900-1902, III, p. 107; first
produced October 15, 1877.
148. Letter to Ludovic Halvy, September 1877,

lettres, pp. 41-42. See also his letter to Halvy, Sep
tem ber 1891, ibid., p. 190, concerning a new production.
88
149. Rivire, Mr. Degas, pp. , 91. On their collabora

tion, see L. Tannenbaum, La Cigale, by Henri Meilhac
and Ludovic Halvy'and Edgar Degas, Art News, 65,
no. 9, January 1967, pp. 55, 71.
150. Duranty, La Nouvelle Peinture, pp. 28-29, note 1.
Meilhac and Halvy, La Cigale, p. 17.
151. Meilhac and Halvy, La Cigale, pp. 88-89.
152. Notebook 29, pp. II, 12; used in 1877-1880.
Meilhac and Halvy, La Cigale, p. 120.
153. See Zola, L'Assommoir, pp. 610-615.
154. Meilhac and Halvy, La Cigale, pp. 124-125.
155. For example, Courbet's Stormy Sea, 1870, and
Jules Duprs Sunset at Sea, ca. 1871; see C. Sterling
and H. Adhmar, Muse du Louvre, peintures, cole
franaise, xixe sicle, 4 vols., Paris, 1958-1961,1, no. 484,
and II, no. 817.
139. Halvy, "Carnets, Revue des Deux Mondes, 43,

1938, p. 399; dated January 1, 1882.
156. Lemoisne, no. 245; dated ca. 1869. See also the
other pastels in this series, especially ibid., nos. 226,227,
233.
140. H. Roujon, "En Souvenir de Ludovic Halvy,"

Revue de Paris, 11, no. 4, 1908, pp. 50-51.
157. Concourt, Journal, XIV, p. 23; dated July 24,

1885. See Maur, "Edm ond de Goncourt, pp. 223-224.
141. Cachin, no. 56; dated ca. 1880, but more likely
of ca. 1878. See also the related images, ibid., nos. 57,
58, of which the last is closest to the portrait.
158. See Halvy, My Friend Degas, pp. 56-57; and E.

Dujardin, Antonia, tragdie moderne, Paris, 1891, first
produced April 20, 1891.
142. L. Halvy, La Famille Cardinal, Paris, 1883, pp.

1-5; illustrated by E. Mas. It comprised stories written
over a num ber of years and collected in Madame et
Monsieur Cardinal, Paris, 1872, illustrated by E. Morin,
and in Les Petites Cardinal, Paris, 1880, illustrated by H.
Maigrot.
159. See his letter to Ernest Rouart, January 24,

1898; A. Gide, Oeuvres compltes, ed. L. MartinChauflier, 15 vols., Paris, 1932-1939, II, p. 486; also his
"Promenade au Salon d Automne, 1905, ibid, IV,
pp. 423-431; and his "Witold Wojtkiewicz, 1907, ibid.,
V, pp. 285-287. See also this chapter, note 210.
325
Notes: The Artist and the Writer

160. See his letter to Christian Cherfils, ca. 1889,
Lettres, Eng. trans., p. 64; Halvy, My Friend Degas,
pp. 76-77; and C. Cros, Oeuvres compltes, ed. L.
Forestier and P. Pia, Paris, 1964, p. .
175. See his letters to Gide, October 5, 1896, and

March 11, 1898, on exhibitions, and February 14, 1898,
on photographs; Gidc and Valry', Correspondance,
pp. 281, 314, 312, respectively.
161. S. Mallarm, "The Impressionists and Edouard

Manet, A n Monthly Review, 1, 1876, p. 121. See J. C.
Harris, A Little-Known Essay on Manet by Stphane
Mallarm, A n Bulletin, 46, 1964, pp. 559-563.
176. P. Valry, La Soire avec Monsieur Teste, 1896,

Oeuvres, II, pp. 20-21; trans. J. Mathews, New York,
1973.
88
162. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 40. For the date

of the photograph, see Halvy, My Friend Degas, p. 73.
163. H. de Rgnier, Nos Rencontres. Paris, 1931,
pp. 201-203.
164. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 28-31. On
Mallarms far moie sym pathetic altitude, see L. j.
Austin, Mallarm and the Visual Arts, French 19th
Century Painting and Literature, ed. U. Finke, Man
chester, 1972, pp. 232-257.
165. See S. Mallarm, Oeuvres compltes, ed. H.
Mondor and G. Jean-Aubry, Paris, 1956, pp. 1523, 1536,
on the earlier project, and pp. 1403-1404, on the later
one. See also Degass letter to him, August 30, 1888; S.
Mallarm, Correspondance, ed. H. Mondor and L. J.
Austin, 4 vols., Paris, 1959-date, III, p. 254, note 2.
166. S. Mallarm, Ballets, 1886, Oeuvres compltes.
pp. 303-307; trans. B. Cook, Baltimore, 1956.
167. Letter to Berthe Morisot, February 17, 1889, her
Correspondance, p. 145.
168. Valry', Degas Manet Morisot, p. 62. See Degas's
admiring letter, presumably to Mallarm, ca. 1889,
Lettres, p. 87.
169. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 62-63. On the
significance of this doctrine for Valrys own aesthetic,
see R. A. Pelmont, Paul Valry et les beaux-arts, Cam
bridge, 1949, pp. 79-83.
170. Ibid, pp. 30-32, 105-107. For a more negative
view, sec A. Lhote, Degas et Valry," Nouvelle Revue
Franaise, 52, 1939, pp. 133-142.
171. Letter of February-7,1896; A. Gide and P. Valry,
Correspondance, 1890-1942, ed. R. Mallet, Paris, 1955,
p. 260.
172. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, p. 11.
173. See C. A. Hackett, Teste and La Soire avec
Monsieur Teste, French Studies, 21, 1967, pp. 112-113;
and Edmond Jalouxs recollections, in P. Valry,
Oeuvres, ed. J. Hvtier, 2 vols., Paris, 1957-1960, II,
pp. 1383-1384.
174. Valry', Degas Manet Morisot, p.
11
.
177.. Quoted in Eugne Rouarts letter to Valry,

Septem ber 27, 1896; Valry, Oeuvres, II, p. 1386. See
also Gides letter to Valry, March 25, 1896, and
Valrys to Rouart, September 19, 1896; Gide and
Valry, Correspondance, pp. 261, 277-278.
178. Letter to Gide, March 28, 1898, ibid, p. 316.
179. B. Nicolson, "Degas as a Human Being," Bur
lington Magazine, 105, 1963, p. 240.
180. A. Vollard, Degas, Paris, 1924, pp. 11-14. On
Mirbeaus art criticism, see F. Cachin, Un Dfenseur
oubli de lart moderne, L Oeil, no. 90, June 1962,
pp. 50-55, 75.
181. See M. Schwarz, Octave Mirbeau, vie et oeuvre,
The Hague, 1966, pp. 47-57, where, however, the rela
tion to Degas is overkx>ked.
182. O. Mirbeau, Le Calvaire, Paris, 1925 [1st ed.
1887], pp. 78-80; trans. L. Rich, New York, 1922.
183. Ibid, pp. 81-83. Compare Degass identical re
mark, reported by Lafond, in Lemoisne, I, p. 101. For
Mirbeaus brief critical comments on Degas, see his
Des Artistes, deuxime srie, Paris, 1924, pp.
, 173.
66
184. F. Champsaur, L A mant des danseuses, Paris,

1888, p. 5. On Decroixs resemblance to Degas, sec Adhmar, pp. x-xi; on Champsaurs career, H.-A. Mercier,
"Flicien Champsaur, Cahiers de Marottes et Violons
d Ingres, no. 60, 1962, pp. 80-89.
185. Sec P. Gauguin, Avant et aprs, Paris, 1923,
pp. 113-114, dated January' 20, 1903; and Champsaur,
L'Amant des danseuses, pp. 318-319.
186. See J. Claretie, La Vie Paris, 1880, Paris, 1881,
pp. 499-501.
187. Champsaur, L A mant des danseuses, pp. 322-323.
188. Ibid., pp. 3-4.
189. Ibid, pp. 261-263. See Lemoisne, no. 522, dated
1879; and Huysmans, L A n moderne, p. 137.
190. C. Mauclair, La Ville lumire, Paris, 1903, p. 15.
On its topical significance, see T. Bowie, The Painter in
French Fiction, Chape! Hill, 1950, pp. 10, 14-15, 19, etc.
191. Mauclair, La Ville lumire, pp. 39-41.
326
192. Ibid., p. 40.
193. See G. Jean-Aubry, Camille Mauclair, Paris,
1905, especially pp. 28-29. Yet he was hostile to m ost of
the original a it of his day; see Pissarros letter to
Lucien, May 29, 1894, Lettres son fils Lucien, p. 344,
note .
194. Mauclair, La Ville lumire, pp. 183-185.

195. C. Mauclair, L'Impressionnisme, son histoire,
son esthtique, ses matres, Paris, 1904, p. . He later
published widely on Degas and Im pressionism.
86
1%. Blanche, Propos de peintre, pp. i~xxxv. The

essay on Degas, ibid., pp. 286-308, appeared first in
Revue de Paris, 20, 1913, pp. 377-392.
197. J.-E. Blanche, Aymeris, Paris, 1922 [written
1911-1914], p. 106. On its autobiographical elements,
see idem, La Pche aux souvenirs, Paris, 1949, pp. 91-92.
3 vols., Paris, 1964-1965, II, pp. 844-845; trans. C. K.

Scctt-Moncrieff, New York, 1927.
208. Ibid., pp. 811-813. The sam e lady also declares:
Monet, Degas, Manet, yes, those are painters.
209. Moore, Impressions and Opinions, p. 321; the
date he gives, 1840, is presumably a misprint for 1870.
J. Meier-Graefe, Degas, New York, 1923, pp. 22-23,
referring to the 1890s.
210. A. Gide, Journal, 1889-1939, Paris, 1951, p. 77,
quoting a letter from Athman ben Sala to Degas, 1896;
trans. J. OBrien, New York, 1947. See also ibid.,
pp. 127-128, 274-275; dated February , 1902, and July
4, 1909.
211. See this chapter, note 63; and T. RefT, "Czanne

and Poussin, Journal o f the Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes, 23, 1960, pp. 164-169, on the reactionary
Neoclassicism of ca. 1900.
198. Blanche, Aymeris, pp. 111-112, 116.

199. Ibid., p. 117. The references are, of course, to The
Young Spartan Girls 1rovoking the Boys and Semiramis
Founding a City, Lemoisne, nos. 70, 82; dated 1860 and
1861.
200. Blanche, Aymeris, p. 119. See also p. 204, where
Aymeris quotes one of Degas's sayings.
201. Interview quoted in S. Barazzetti, "JacquesErnile Blanche, portraitiste de Degas, Beaux-Arts, no.
220, M arch 19, 1937, p. 3.
202. Lemoisne, no. 824; dated 1885. See Blanche,
Propos de peintre, p. 296; and J. S. Boggs, Portraits by
Degas, Berkeley, 1962, pp. 70-72.
203. L etter to J.-E. Blanche, January 25, 1919;
M. Proust, Correspondance gnrale, ed. R. Proust and
P. Brach, vols., Paris, 1930-1936, III, p. 156.
204. See J. Monnin-Hornung, Proust et la peinture,

Geneva, 1951, p. 19. For works owned by Blanche, see
I.emoisne, nos. 430, 444, 824, 1118; for those owned by
the Prince de W agram, nos. 362, 476, 530, 1297.
205. R. Allard,
Marcel Proust,
pp. 228-229. M.
New York, 1944,
"Les Arts plastiques dans l'oeuvre de

Nouvelle Revue Franaise, 20, 1923,
E. Chemowitz, Proust and Painting,
pp. 115-116.
206. See P. H oward-Johnston, "B onjour M. Elstir,

Gazette des Beaicx-Arts, 69, 1967, pp. 247-250; and
Monnin-Hornung, Proust et la peinture, pp. 95-100.
207. M. Proust, Sodom e et Gomorrhe, 1922, A la
Recherche du temps perdu, ed. P. Clarac and A. Ferr,
V. My Genre Painting
1. lem oisne, no. 348; dated ca. 1874, but more likely
of 1868-1869, as we shall see. I am grateful to Mr.
Mcllhennv for allowing me to examine the picture.
2. G. Grappe, Edgar Degas, Paris, n. d. [1908], pp. 50,
55.
3. A. .Alexandre, Degas, nouveaux aperus, L A rt et
les Artistes, 29, 1935, pp. 167-168.
4. Its provenance, too, has rem ained som ewhat
uncertain; see this chapter, note 35. According to the
archives of the Durand-Ruel gallery, Paris, and the
Alfred A. Pope Collection, now the Hill-Stead Museum,
Faim ington, Conn., it was bought from the artist by
Durand-Ruel, June 15, 1905, and sold to A. F. Jaccaci,
New York, August 31, 1909; bought by H arris Whitternorc, October 23, 1909; given to Mr. Pope, December
1909; returned to II. W hittem ore and Co., Naugatuck,
Conn., 1913; sold to M. Knoedler and Co., New York,
1936; bought by Mr. Mcllhenny, 1936. I am indebted
for this inform ation to Charles Durand-Ruel and
Jean C. H am s.
5. Sec P.-A. Lemoisne, Degas, Paris, n. d. [1912],
pp. 61-62; P. Lafond, Degas, 2 vols., Paris, 1918-1919, II,
p. 4; and Grappe, Edgar Degas, p. 50.
. P. Jam ot, "Degas, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 60,

1918, pp. 130-132. The sam e statem ent occurs in his
Degas, Paris, 1924, pp. 70-71.
7. G. Jeanniot, Souvenirs sur Degas, Revue Uni-
327
N otes: M y G enre P ain ting

venelle, 55, 1933, p. 167. He gives no date for the
restoration; but E. Rouart, "Degas," Le Point, 2, no. 1,
February 1937, p. 21, recalls that it was done ca. 1903.
. Reported by Mr. Mcllhenny to Quentin Bell; see

the latters Degas, Le Viol (Charlton Lectures on Art),
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1965, unpaged [p. 16], note 12.
In the Durand-Ruel archives, too, the picture is listed
as Interior.
9. Letter to Marcel Gurin, July 11, 1936, Lettres, p.
255. See also his letter of January 15, 1933, ibid., p. 253.
10. G. Rivire, Mr. Degas, bourgeois de Paris, Paris,
1935, pp. 97-98. On Rivire, see J. Rewald, The History
o f Impressionism, 4th ed., New York, 1973, pp. 370,
385-386, 392-394.
11. R. H. Wilenski, Modern French Painters, New
York, 1940, p. 53. C. Mauclair, Degas, Paris, 1937, p. 14.
Huit Sonnets d'Edgar Degas, Paris, 1946, Preface by
J. Nepveu-Degas, p. 9.
12. M. Crou et, Un Mconnu du Ralisme, Duranty,

Paris, 1964, p. 335, note 106.
13. L.-E. Tabary, Duranty, tude biographique et
critique, Paris, 1954, p. 149.
14. L E. Duranty, Les Combats de Franoise du
Quesnoy, Paris, 1873, pp. 74-75, 284-285, are the scenes
that correspond most closely. It was first published
serially in 1868; see Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme,
p. 739.
21. Bell, Degas, Le Viol, unpaged [p. 9],

22. P. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, trans. D. Paul.
New York, 1960, pp. 134-135; from "Autour de Corot,"
preface to Vingt Estampes de Corot, Paris, 1932. See
also the remarks on Zola reported in D. Halvy, My
Friend Degas, trans. M. Curtiss, Middletown, 1964,
p. 41.
23. See Notebook 28, pp. 13 verso-14,15, 16, etc.; and
Cachin, nos. 56-82; the former drawn in 1877, the latter
ca. 1878.
24. See P. Pool, "The History Pictures of Edgar
Degas and Their Background, Apollo, 80, 1964, pp.
306-311 ; and Chap. IV, pp. 150-154.
25. A brief version with the same title had appeared
in Le Figaro, December 24, 1866; see Zola, Oeuvres
compltes, I, pp. 670-673.
26. F. W. Hemmings, Emile Zola, 2nd ed., Oxford,
1966, p. 40. On this aspect of the novel, see also
M. Claverie, Thrse Raquin, ou les Atrides dans la
boutique du Pont-Neuf, Cahiers Naturalistes, 14, 1968,
pp. 138-147.
27. E. Zola, Thrse Raquin, 1867, Oeuvres compltes,
I, p. 605; trans. L. Tancock, London, 1962. Some of
these elements also appear in the woodcut by Castelli
illustrating a later moment in the same chapter, in the
first illustrated edition, Paris, 1881.
28. He was, in fact, obliged to do so, since Zola
provides no other details, even in his earlier description
of the room, Thrse Raquin, pp. 527-528.
15. J. Adhmar, in Bibliothque Nationale, Paris,

Emile Zola, 1952, no. 114. The argument is developed
further in H. and J. Adhmar, Zola et la peinture,
Arts, no. 389, December 12-18, 1952, p. 10; and is
repeated in P. Cabanne, Edgar Degas, Paris, 1957,
p. 110, no. 49.
29. See Grappe, Edgar Degas, p. 50; and Lemoisne,

Degas, pp. 61-62. Jam ot, Degas, p. 131, even ob
served that the man, 'a gentleman, has his back to
the door, as if to prevent any thought of flight.
16. Bell, Degas, Le Viol, unpaged [p. 9]. See E. Zola,

Madeleine Frat, 1868, Oeuvres compltes, ed. II. Mitterand, 15 vols., Paris, 1966-1969,1, pp. 845-846, for this
scene, and pp. 819-820, for Zola's description of the
room.
31. Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, RF 31779; sec Or

angerie des Tuileries, Paris, Degas, Oeuxres du Musee du
Louvre, June 27September 15, 1969, no. 166.

18. E. Zola, Madeleine, 1889 [written 1865], Oeuvres
compltes, XV, p. 105. This, rather than the novel, is
what the authors cited in this chapter, note 15, quote.
30. Zola, Thrse Raquin, pp. 602, 605.
32. E. Zola, Thrse Raquin," L Artiste, 37,1867, pp.

26-27. On this edition, see Zola, Oeuvres compltes, I,
p. 514.
19. J. S. Boggs, Drawings by Degas, Greenwich, 1967,

no. 61. See Zola, Madeleine Frat, pp. 798-801.
33. Boggs, Drawings by Degas, no. 61. Two other

works of this periodMile Fiocre in the Ballet from I m
Source, Lemoisne, no. 146, dated 1866-1868; and The.
Ballet from Robert le Diable, ibid., no. 294, dated
1872do in fact represent theatrical performances.
20. T. Reff, Degas and the Literature of His Time,

Burlington Magazine, 113, 1970, p. 585. See Zola, Madeieine Frat, pp. 831-834.
Zola, Thrse Raquin, drame en quatre actes,

1873, Oeuvres compltes, XV, p. 175; the set itself is
described in ibid., p. 169.
34
328
35. Reported by Roger Fry to Quentin Bell; see the
latters Degas, Le Viol, unpaged \pp. 4, 16, note 3]. The
museum in question was probably the Metropolitan,
and the trustee J. P. Morgan; see Fry's letter to A. F.
Jaccaci, June 18, 1906, Letters of Roger Fry, ed. D. Sut
ton, 2 vols., New York, 1972, 1, p. 266, reporting on his
recent examination, with Morgan, of "the Degas,"
presumably this one, at Durand-Ruels gallery in Paris.
However, his statem ent that the dealer then sold it
immediately does not agree with the note in DurandRuels stock book that it was bought in 1909 by Jaccaci
himself; see this chapter, note 4.
36. The quotations are from Zola, Madeleine Frat,
pp. 819-820, 828; trans. A. Brown, New York, 1957, but
inaccurately, and here revised. I owe this suggestion to
Anne Macrae.
37. See Zola, Oeuvres compltes, I, p. 897. It was
published as a volume in December, with a dedication
to Manet. See also the appendix to this chapter.
38. Lemoisne, no. 353; incorrectly dated ca. 1874.
40. Atelier, I, no. 16. The dimensions given there are
41 x 27 cm., whereas those of Lemoisne, no. 353, are
34.9 X 20.9 cm.
41. I am indebted to Maurice Tuchman, Senior
Curator of Modem Art, Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, for arranging to have these photographs taken;
to Ben B. Johnson, Head of Conservation there, for
taking them; and to Mrs. Julius Held for expeit advice
in inteipreting them.
43. Atelier, IV, no. 266b.
44. Notebook 22, p. 100. Inscribed at the upper right:
"very light, probably in reference to the m an's collar,
which is marked with an X. Inscribed at the right:
"chain and cuff of the hand in the pocket very light.
45. Atelier, III, no. 113c.
46. See Zola, Thrse Raquirt, p. 605; and Lemoisne,
Degas, pp. 61-62. See also Jamot, Degas, pp. 131-132.
Another study of the head was supposedly no. 172 in a
sale at the Htel Drouot, Paris, either on April 4, 1928
(Lemoisne, under no. 348) or on August 4, 1928 (Degas,
Oeuvres du Muse du Louvre, under no. 20), but I have
not found it listed in any sale on cither date.
49. Zola, Thrse Raquirt, p. 602.

50. Atelier, III, no. 406b.
Reproduced in color in H. Rivire, Les Dessins de
Degas, 2 vols., Paris, 1922 1923, no. 24.
52. Lemoisne, no. 353; dated ca. 1874. See Rivire,
Dessins de Degas, no. 78; and Boggs, Drawings by
Degas, no. 61.
53. See Hemmings, Emile Zola, pp. 28-29. Degas
began appearing there in the same year; see Rewald,
History o f Impressionism, pp. 197-199.
54. See Zola's letter to Huysmans, May 10, 1883,
Oeuvres compltes, XIV, p. 1427; and G. Moore, Im
pressions and Opinions, London, 1891, p. 319.
55. See E. Zola, Mon Salon, 1868, Oeuvres com
pltes, XII, p. 882; and Halvy, My Friend Degas, p. 41.
56. E. Zola, Edouard Manet, tude biographique et
critique, 1867, Oeuvres compltes, XII, pp. 821-845. On
its aesthetic program, see G. H. Hamilton, Manet and
His Critics, New Haven, 1954, pp. 87-104.
57. L. Ulbach, La Littrature putride, Le Figaro,
January 23, 1868; reprinted, with Zolas reply, in his
Oeuvres completes, I, pp. 673 -680. See also his preface
to the second edition of Thrse Raquirt; ibid., pp.
519-523.
58. G. Vapereau, review of Thrse Raquin, L'Anne
Littraire et Dramatique, 10, 1867; quoted in E. Zola,
Thrse Raquin, ed. M. Le Blond, Paris, 1928, p. 250.
59. Ulbach, "La Littrature putride," reprinted in
Zola, Oeuvres compltes, I, p. 676.
60. See J. C. I.app, Zola before the Rougon-Macquart, Toronto, 1964, pp. 91-92. In the wedding-night
scene itself, the vacillating, ruddy light of the fire plays
such a role; see Zola, Thrse Raquin, pp. 605-606.
61. See H. Mitterand, Zola journaliste, Paris, 1962,
p. 71; and Claverie, "Thrse Raquin, ou les Atildes,
p. 145, who cites the portrayal of Thrse on her wed
ding night as one example.
62. See I .app, Zola before the Rougon-Macquart, pp.
97, 101. On their artistic affinities at this time, see ibid,
pp. 129-132; and M. Schapiro, Paul Czanne, rev. ed.,
New York, 1962, pp. 22-25.
63. Lapp, Zola before the Rougon-Macquart, pp.
103-104. See also the debate between Zola and SainteBeuve on the plausibility of these scenes; M. Kanes,
Autour de Thrse Raquin, un dialogue entre Zola et
Sainte-Beuve," Cahiers Naturalistes, 12,1966, pp. 23-31.
64. B. Nicolson, "Degas as a Human Being, Bur
lington Magazine, 105, 1963, pp. 239-240, with further
329
N otes: M y G en re P ain ting'

references. Zola himself based the misogynistic traits
of Claude Lautier, the artist hero of The Masterpiece,
on those of Degas; see R. J. Niess, Zola, Czanne, and
Manet, A Study o f L Oeuvre, Ann Arbor, 1970, pp.
186-187.
65. Sec Notebook 11, pp. 94-95, used in 1857-1858;
and his letter to Henri R ouan, D ecember 5, 1872,
Lettres, pp. 27-28.
66
. Letter to P.A. Bartholome, December 19, 1884,

Lettres, p. 99. For a sim ilar expression, see his letter to
Henri Lerolle, August 21, 1884; quoted in Chap. Ill,
p. 130.
67. E. Bergerat, Edgar Degas, souvenirs," Le Figaro,
May 11, 1918. The author had met Degas in 1870,
during the siege of Paris.
68
. Manet, quoted by B eithe Morisot in a letter to

her sister Edm a, spring 1869; her Correspondance, ed.
D. Rouart, Paris, 1950, p. 31; Irans. B. W. H ubbard,
New York, 1959.
likely of 1859-1860. On Degass aw areness of the nature
of their marriage, see the letters quoted in Chap. Ill,
pp. 95-97.
70. Lemoisne, nos. 335, 41, 70, 124, respectively. The
last tw o are correctly dated 1860 an d 1865, but the first
two are contemporary with Interior, not of 1857-1859
and 1873-1875 as stated there. See the studies for no.
335 in Notebook 25, pp. 36, 37, 39, used in 1869-1872;
and those for no. 41 in Notebook 22, p. 119, used in
1867 -1874, and Notebook 23, p. 34, used in 1868-1872.
71. Bell, Degas, Le Viol, unpaged [pp. 12-13].
72. Compare the more banal com position of the
work that may have been its source, Joseph Liss Evils
o f War of 1859; P. Pool, "The History Pictures of Edgar
Degas and Their Background," Apollo, 80, 1964, p. 311,
fig- .

74. See Muse National de Versailles, Charles Le
Brun, July-O ctober 1963, pp. 302-307; and J. Locquin,
La Peinture d'histoire en France de 1747 1785, Paris,
1912, pp. 80-81.
75. Notebook 23, p. 47.
76. For example, J. C. Lavater, La Physionomie,
trans. H. Bacharach, Paris, 1845; and A. David, Le Petit
Lavater portatif, Paris, 1854. On his popularity in
France, sec J. Baltrusaitis, Aberrations, Paris, 1957, pp.
34-46; and this chapter, note 82.
77. Notebook 21, p. 4; used in 1865-1868. The quo
tation is from J. W. von Goethe, Dichtung und Wahr-
heit, Book xix; Oeuvres, trans. J. Porchat, 10 vols.,

Paris, 1861-1863, VIII, p. 640.
78. Sec E. Levy, "Delsartes Cours d Esthtique
Applique," M. A. thesis, Ijouisiana State University,
1940, pp. 70-71; and Abb Delaumosne, Pratique de
Tart oratoire de Delsarte, Paris, 1874, pp. 77-84, on the
eye.
79. Grappe, Edgar Degas, p. 50.
80. E. and J. de Concourt, Journal, mmoires de la
vie littraire, 9 vols., Paris, 1935-1936, III, p. 26; dated
M arch 5, 1866. For other examples, see R. Ricatte, La
Cration romanesque chez les Concourt, Paris, 1953,
p. 365.
81. L. E. Duranty, "Sur la physionomie," La Revue
Librale, 2, 1867, p. 510. For a sum m ary of his view's,
see Crouzet, Un Mconnu du Ralisme, pp. 248-249,
456-457.
82. F. Baldensperger, Les Thories de Lavater dans
la littrature franaise, Etudes d histoire littraire, 2e
srie, Paris, 1910, p. 89; on Gautier, Sand, and Balzac,
see pp. 70-87.
83. Zola, Thrse Raquin, p. 541. On his m ethod of
characterization, see H. M itterand, "Corrlations lexi
cales et organisation du rcit, le vocabulaire du visage
dans Thrse Raquin, Linguistique et Littrature {La
Nouvelle Critique, special number), Paris, 1968, pp.
21-28.
84. Lemoisne, no. 638; dated ca. 1881. See also ibid.,
no. 639; and the studies in Notebook 32, pp. 5 verso-15
verso, xissim
85. C. Lombroso, L Uomodelinquente, Milan, 1876. A
second, m uch larger, edition was published in Turin in
1878. On Bordier, Lombroso, and others of this period,
see C. Bernaldo de Quirs, M odem Theories o f Crim
inality, Boston, 1912, pp. 1-45.
86
. Notebook 23, p. 45; used in 1868-1872.
87. Lemoisne, no. 271; dated 1870. On its relation to

the notebook text, sec ibid, I, p. 56; and J. S. Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, Berkeley, 1962, pp. 25-26.
88
. Lemoisne, nos. 186, 294; dated 1868-1869 and

1872. Both w'orks are anticipated, if not influenced, by
Menzels Thtre Gymnase of 1856; see E. W aldmann,
Der Mater Adolph Menzel, Vienna, 1941, pi. 52. Degas
w as in contact with Menzel in 1867-1868see Le
moisne, I, p. 233, note 63but few of the latters works
W'ere exhibited in Paris before that date. On their rela
tionship, see J. Meier-Graefe, Degas, New York, 1923,
pp. 47-52.
330
89. L. E. Duranty, "Le Salon de 1870, Paris-Journal,
May , 1870; quoted in Lemoisne, I, p. 62.
90. See Degass notes on this effect; quoted in this

chapter, note 44.
91. Zola, Thrse Raquin, p. 605. Further on, the
fires ruddy light becomes a symbol of violence: "Now
and then the wood spurted jets of ruddy flame, and
then the murderers' faces were touched with fleeting
gleams of blood," ibid, p. 606.
92. Lapp, Zola before the Rougpn-Macquart, p. 91.
93. L. E. Duranty, Le Salon bourgeois, La Rue,
July 13, 1867; quoted in Crouzet, Un Mconnu du
Ralisme, p. 655, note 257.
94. See J. Rewald, "Notes sur deux tableaux de
Claude Monet, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 70, 1967,
pp. 245-248, where the other version, in the collection
of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, is also illustrated.
95. See, for example, Courbets etching The Andler
Keller, 1862, illustrated in Rewald, History o f Impres
sionism, p. 36; and Legross etched illustrations of
Poes Histoires extraordinaires, illustrated in A Cata
logue o f the Etchings . . . by Professor Alphonse Legros
in the Collection o f Frank E Bliss, London, 1923, pis.
pp. 190-192. Interesting in relation to Interior, in its

figures as well as its setting, is Robert Tail's Chelsea
Interior of 1858; illustrated in ibid., p. 192.
102. See, among others, The Dance Class, The Dance
Rehearsal, and Two Dancers Seated on a Bench, Le
moisne, nos. 341, 430, 559; dated ca. 1875, ca. 1877, and
ca. 1879, respectively.
103. Letter to P.-A. Barthoiom, August 27, 1892;
Lettres, pp. 193-194. The pictures he had been strug
gling with when he wrote this are Lemoisne, nos. 1114,
1115; dated 1892.
104. Described in . . Raunay, Degas, souvenirs anecdotiques, Revue de France, 11, no. 2,1933, pp. 472-473.
Similar devices were recommended in popular m an
uals, such as Armand Cassagnes Trait pratique de
perspective, 1873, and were used by Van Gogh; see A. S.
Wylie, An Investigation of the Vocabulary of Line in
Vincent van Goghs Expression of Space, Oud Hol
land, 85, 1970, pp. 213-218.
105. Jeanniot, Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 281.
106. Halvy, My Friend Degas, p. 103. For similar
statem ents by him, see Chap. VII, p. 294.
107. See this chapter, note 110.
XLHI, XUV, XLV.
96. E. G. Kennedy, The Etched Work o f Whistler,

New York, 1910, nos. 32, 33. There is an etching of the
sam e subject and date by Seymour Haden (Harring
ton, no. 9) and a lithograph of a similar subject by
Thodule Ribot (not in Braldi; proof in New' York Pub
lic Library).
97. Again Menzels work provides a close precedent,
if not a direct influence; see his Interior with Menzels
Sister of 1847, illustrated in Waldmann, Der Maler
Adolph Menzel, pl. 13. Similarly, his Evening Reunion
of ca. 1848, illustrated in ibid., pi. 30, closely resembles
the Monets and Whistlers just discussed.
98. For example, the sm all oil sketch of 1856-1857,
also entitled Interior, in the Louvre. Not in Lemoisne;
see Degas, oeuvres du Muse du Louvre, no. 160, where
it is incorrectly related to a picture of 1872-1873.
99. Lemoisne, nos. 79, 175; dated 1859-1860 and
1866-1868. For a similar effect, see Mile Dubourg and
Thrse Morbilli, ibid, nos. 137, 255; dated 1866 and
ca. 1869.
108. See his letter to Poujaud, July , 1936, and the

latter's reply, July 11, 1936; Paris, Bibliothque Nation
ale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 24839, fols. 480-481,483-485. Gurin
published the reply in Lettres, pp. 255-256, but deleted
all references to the document in question.
109. This was his address from at least 1865 to at least
1870; see Lemoisne, I, p. 231, note 47, p. 233, notes 63
bis- .
66
110. Paris, Bibliothque Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr.

24839, fol. 596.
111. Ibid., fol. 596 verso. I have relied on Guerin's
transcription, ibid., fol. 486, where the original was dif
ficult to read.
113. Notebook 22, p. 215; used in 1867-1874. Note
book 23, p. 159; used in 1868-1872.
100. Lemoisne, no. 82; dated 1861. See especially the

perspective study for it ; Degas, oeuvres du Muse du
Louvre, no. 77.
114. Prins had been friendly with Manet since the

early 1860s, and at his home had met Jenny's sister
Fanny Clauss, whom he married in 1869, the year in
which she also posed for M anets The Balcony; see
[E. L. P. Prins], Pierre Prins et l poque impressionniste,
Paris, 1949, pp. 18-26.1 owe this suggestion to the late
Denis Rouart.
101. lem oisne, no. 320; signed and dated 1873. See
A. Scharf, Art and Photography, Baltimore, 1974,
115. See especially the letter to Degas, September 18

[I860?], Paris, formerly collection of Jean Nepveu-
331
Notes: My G enre P ain ting

Degas; and the one to Bathhonne, December 14, 1878,
Bowling Green, collection of Willard Misfeldt. I am
indebted to the latter and to David Brooke for infor
mation on Tissot.
116. He had been exhibiting genre pictures and
portraits successfully at the Salon since 1864; see
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Prov
idence, James Jacques Joseph Tissot, Febniary 2 8 March 29, 1968, unpaged [p. 13], nos. 7,10.
117. See Berthe Morisots letter to her sister Edma,
fall 1871, her Correspondance, p. 67. Her reference to
the little Clauss could only be to Jenny.
Notebook 21, p. 13 verso; used in 1865-1868. For the
portrait, see Lemoisne, no. 175; dated 1866-1868.
ites anglais en France (1855-1900), Gazette des BeauxArts, 53,1959, pp. 317, 320-321,327-328.
128. See J. Laver, Vulgar Society," The Romantic
Career o f James Tissot, London, 1936, pp. 25-32. This
was also the year of Degass first visit to London; see
his letter to Legros, October 1871; T. ReiT, "Some Un
published Letters of Degas, Art Bulletin, 50, 1968,
pp. 88-89.
129. P. Mantz, "Salon de 1865, Gazette des BeauxArts, 19, 1865, pp. 11-12. See also P. Burty, "Exposition
de la Royal Academy, ibid, 25, 1868, pp. 62-63, on the
influence of English art on Tissots The Club o f the Rue.
Royale.
130. James Jacques Joseph Tissot, no. 11. The pre
paratory drawing is ibid., no. 43.
119. James Jacques Joseph Tissot, no. 27; for the

others, see fig. (under no. 50), no. 16. On the mood of
alienation in these works, see also H. Zem ers intro
ductory essay, ibid., unpaged [pp. - ].
131. See J. G. Millais, The Life and tetters o f Sir John

Everett Millais, 2 vols., lx>ndon, 1899, 1, pp. 380-383,
illustrated p. 369. 1 owe this observation to Allen
Staley.
120. Lemoisne, no. 335; on its date, see this chapter,

note 70. Tissots pictures in turn influenced later scenes
of marital estrangement, such as Orchardson's The First
Cloud; illustrated in G. Reynolds, Victorian Painting,
London, 1966, pi. 130.
132. See A. Grieve, Whistler and the Pre-Raphael

ites," Art Quarterly, 34, 1971, pp. 219-220.
121. Some of the pentimenti may date from ca. 1903,

when Degas restored the picture. But according to
Jeanniot, Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 167, only the m ans
head was retouched; and according to Guerin, letter to
Poujaud, cited this chapter, note 108, it was only the
lam pshade and the woman's head.
134. Letter of February 18, 1873; Paris, Bibliothque

Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 13005, fols. 8-9; published
only in English, in Lettres, Eng. trans., pp. 29-32. In the
sam e letter, he refers to that English art, which
pleases us so m uch.
1011
122. Compare Tissot's use of such a shadow beneath

the sofa in The Club o f the Rue Royale of 1868; James
Jacques Joseph Tissot, no. 10.
123. Sec this chapter, note 29.
124. Dated 1863; see Walker Art Gallery-, Liverpool,
and Royal Academy o f Arts, London, Millais, JanuaryApril 1967, no. 63, with further references.
125. W. Brger [T. Thor], "L'Exposition Universelle
de 1867, Salons, 1861-1868, Paris, 1870, pp. 402-403.
On the obscurity of Millaiss title, see also E. Chesneau,
Les Nations rivales dans Tart, Paris, 1868, pp. 41-43.
126. Letter to Fantin-Latour, April 1863; quoted in L.
Bencdite, Whistler, Gazette des lieaux-Arts, 33, 1905,
pp. 510-511.
127. L. E. Duranty, "John Everett Millais, Illus
trated Biographies o f M odem Artists, ed. F. G. Dumas,
London, 1882, pp. 41-42. For other reactions, see
J. Lethve, "La Connaissance des peintres prraphal-
133. Letter of November 19, 1872; Paris, Biblio

thque Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 13005, fols. 5-6; pub
lished only in English, in Lettres, Eng. trans., pp. 17-19.
135. Notebook 21, pp. 30, 31, 31 verso; used in 1865

1868. For the works he lists, see Paris Universal Exhi
bition, Complete Official Catalogue, 2nd ed., London
and Paris, 1867, pp. 100-103, nos. 49a, 49b, 55, 64, 99a,
and pp. 103-106, nos. 38, 55, 55a, , 90a.
68
136. E. Degas, A Propos du Salon, Paris-Joumal,

April 12, 1870; reprinted in Reff, "Some Unpublished
Letters, pp. 87-88. For Golden Hours, see E. Staley,
Lord Leighton o f Stretton, London, 1906, pp. 66-67,
illustration opposite p. 48; for Sulking, Lemoisne,
no. 335, and this chapter, note 70, on its date. There are
also affinities between Leighton and Degas in the
1850s, as Richard Ormond kindly informs me.
137. See Chap. Ill, p. 117.
138. See Wildenstein, New York, From Realism to
Symbolism, W'histler and His World, March 4April 3,
1971, comments on nos. 18, 108; and A. Staley, "The
Condition of Music, Art News Annual, 33, 1967,
pp. 80- 87, on Moore and Whistler.
139. See From Realism to Symbolism, nos. 18, 63;
and Chap. I, on Whistler and Degas.
332
140. Letter to Whistler, February 12, 1867; quoted in
From Realism to Symbolism, under no. 135.
141. Ibid., com m ent on no. 12. On the relation be
tween the two works, see also Grieve, "W histler and
the Pre-Raphaelites, pp. 219-220.
142. J.-A. Castagnarv, "Salon des Refuss, 1863,
Salons (1858-1870), Paris, 1892, p. 179. Another critic
asked: W hat does she w ant of us, with her hair
untied, her large eyes drow ned in ecstasy, her languid
posture . . . ? P. Mantz, Salon de 1863, Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 15, 1863, p. 61.
143. See From Realism to Symbolism, com m ents on
nos. 12, 104; and Grieve, "W histler and the PreRaphaelites," p. 220.
144. See Hamilton, M anet and His Critics, pp.
104-105; and G. Mack, G ustaw Courbet, New York,
1950, pp. 215-219.
145. See Millais, nos. 328-335, with further refer
ences; also D. Sutton, "Victorian Cross-Currents,
Apollo, 85, 1967, pp. - , on the personal and social
context.
68
146. These copies, largely after The R a kes Progress

and The Harlot's Progress, are in Notebook 4, pp. 25-33;
probably used in 1859-1860.
147. H. Taine, Histoire de la littrature anglaise, 4
vols., Paris, 1892 [1st ed. 1863-1864], IV, p. 468. He
develops the them e further in Notes sur lAngleterre,
Paris, 1871, pp. 348-352.
148. Chesneau, Les Nations rivales dans Tart, pp.
50-55. For the pictures cited, see the Complete Official
Catalogue, pp. 101-102, nos. 30b, 79.
149. See R. Lister, Victorian Narrative Paintings,
London, 1966, pp. 54-59; and P. Ferriday, "Augustus
Egg," Architectural Review, 134,1963, pp. 420-422.
150. See Lapp, Zola before the Rougon-Macquart,
pp. 96-98.
151. W. Burger [T. Thor), "Exposition des BeauxArts Bruxelles, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, , 1860,
pp. 94-95.
152. L. E. Durant y. La Nouvelle Peinture, ed. M.

Gurin, Paris, 1946 [1st ed. 1876], pp. 42-43.
153. Zola, Madeleine Frat, pp. 887-888.
154. Rivicre, Mr. Degas, p. 67. See O. Reuterswrd,
"An Unintentional Exegete of Im pressionism , Konsthistorisk Tijdskrift, 4, 1949, p. 112.
155. In the m ore popular m edium of lithography,
however, he was anticipated by D aum ier and Gavami
in the 1840s and 1850s. See, for example, P.-A. Lemoisne, Gavami, peintre et lithographe, 2 vols., Paris,
1928, I, opposite pp. , 196, and II, pp. 115, 1.39, 217.
86
156.
For the former, see Atelier, II, no. 220; and
Rivire, Dessins de Degas, no. 19. For the latter, see
Lemoisne, no. 326; and Chap. Ill, pp. 125-130. See also
the seated m an a t the far right in Rehearsal o f a Ballet
on Stage, Lemoisne, no. 400; dated 1873-1874.
VI. To Make Sculpture Modern

1. L. W. Havemeyer, Sixteen to Sixty, Memoirs o f a
Collector, New York, 1961, pp. 254-255. Illustrated
above is one of the bronze casts m ade in 1921 from the
original wax version, which is now in the collection of
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. See Rewald, pp. 16-20,
no. xx.
2. J.-K. Huysmans, L'Exposition des Indpendants
en 1881, L A rt moderne, Paris, 1883, p. 226.
3. See L. Tanneribaum, "Degas, Illustrious and Un
known, Art News, 65, no. 1, January 1967, p. 53.
4. Rewald, no. xix; dated 1879 1880.
5. See this chapter, notes 39, 69, 71, respectively.
. Rewald, no. u i; dated 1896-1911. A dressed figure

also occurs in The Masseuse, ibid., no. l x x i i i ; dated
1896-1911.
7. G. Bazin, Degas sculpteur, L'A m our de l'Art, 12,
1931, pp. 293-301, com pares his sculpture with th at of
Renoir and Maillol in very general terms. The one
specific connection draw n thus far is between his early
horses and those of Joseph Cuvelier; see P.-A. Le
m oisne, "Les S tatuettes de Degas, Art et Dcoration,
36,1914-1919, pp. 110-111.
. M. Beaulieu, "Les Sculptures de Degas, essai de

chronologie, Revue du Louvre, 19, 1969, pp. 369-380.
This argum ent ignores not only the frequent repetition
o f subjects in Degass oeuvre but the evidence for
dating certain statuettes, such as Rewald, no. xxxvi, a
decade later than the related paintings and pastels.
9. Unsigned notice in Chronique des Arts, 18, 1881,
pp. 109-110. The case was not acquired by Mr. and
Mrs. Mellon, and its w hereabouts is not known.
10. Atelier, III, no. 280a.
11. H. O'Shea, Les Muses du Louvre, guide popu
laire, Paris, 1892, p. 398. H uysmans, L A rt moderne, p.
227. The etching is Adhmar, no. 53; dated 1879-1880.
12. Huysmans, L A rt moderne, p. 226.
333
Notes: To M ake Sculpture M odern

13. P. Mantz, "L'Exposition des Indpendants, Le
Temps, April 23, 1881; reprinted in Lemoisne, I, p. 249,
note 141.
14. J. Claretic, La Vie Paris, 1881, Paris, 1882, p.
150; from Le Temps, April 5, 1881.
15. C. E[phrussi], "Exposition des Artistes Indpen
dants, Chronique fies Arts, 18, 1881, pp. 126-127.
16. Huysmans, L A rt moderne, p. 227. For Renoirs
reaction, see A. Vollard, Auguste Renoir, Paris, 1920, p.
95; for Whistler's, J.-E. Blanche, Propos de peintre, de
David Degas, Paris, 1919, p. 54.
17. Lemoisne, nos. 586 bis, 586 ter; dated ca. 1880.
Atelier, III, nos. 277, 341b (illustrated above), 386.
Atelier, IV, no. 287a.
18. N oteb k 34, p. 4; used in 1880-1884; inscribed;
Marie Van Gutten, 36 rue de Douai. The sheet of
studies [1611 is inscribed: 36 rue de Douai-Marie. For
the traditional identification of the model, see Beau
lieu, Sculptures de Degas, p. 375.
19. Sec J. Hugard, Ces Demoiselles de l Opra, Paris,
1923; cited in L. Browse, Degas Dancers, London, 1949,
p. 62. See also J.-G. Prodhomme, L Opra (1660-1925),
Paris, 1925, p. 146.
21. Mantz, "LExposition des Indpendants, p. 250.
22. C. E[phrussi], Exposition des Artistes Indpen
dants, p. 127.
23. Lemoisne, nos. 471, 473, 483, 484, 486; all dated
ca. 1878, but more likely of 1884-1888. For the date and
the models identity, see Browse, Degas Dancers, notes
on pis. 160-165.
24. Claretie, La Vie Paris, 1881, p. 150. Huysmans,
L'Art moderne, pp. 226-227.
25. See, among others, G. Borrelli, II Presepe Napoletano, Rome, 1970, passim; also J. S. Boggs, "Edgar
Degas and Naples," Burlington Magazine, 105, 1963, pp.
273-276.1 owe this suggestion to Thomas Sokolowski.
26. Sec J. Claretie, Im Vie Paris, 1882, Paris, 1883,
pp. 273-278; from Le Temps, June 2, 1882. He does not
specify the date, but it must have been shortly after
Chabrillat moved to Paris from Dijon ca. 1866.
27. Claretie, La Vie Paris, 1881, pp. 435439; from
Le Temps, November 29, 1881.
28. Unsigned, Courrier de Paris, L Illustration,
June 10, 1882. See also Claretie, La Vie Paris, 1882, pp.
300-303; from Le Temps, June 9, 1882.
29. Muse Grvin, Catalogue illustr, Paris, 1882, no.

1. The latter is not illustrated; but for a comparable
example, see Muse Grvin, Principaux tableaux du
Muse reproduits par la photographie, Paris, n.d. [1887],
pl. 4.
30. Lemoisne, no. 469; dated 1877-1880. The identifi
cation of the model, first proposed in Cleveland
Museum of Art, Works by Edgar Degas, February
5March 9, 1947, no. 5, has been tentatively rejected by
Browse, Degas Dancers, note on pi. 176.
31. Letter to Henri Rouart, October 26, 1880, lettres,
pp. 59-60.
32. Muse Grvin, Catalogue illustr, no. 4. On Zola,
Halvy, and Daudet, see Chap. IV, pp. 164-170,182-188,
161; on Wolff and Dtaill, Notebook 29, p. 3, used in
1877-1880.
33. Huysman, L A rt moderne, p. 227. Havemeyer,
Sixteen to Sixty, pp. 254-255.
34. Notebook 34, p. 228; used in 1880-1884. Accord
ing to the Bottin, Mme Cussey [sic] was a "manufac
turer of wags for puppets [or dolls].
35. Mantz and Ephrussi; see this chapter, notes 13,
15. The Little Dancer is 39 inches high; the average
child of fourteen, about five feet high.
36. Lemoisne, no. 326; dated ca. 1873, but more
likely of ca. 1878. See Chap. Ill, pp. 125-130.
37. E. Zola, A u Bonheur des Dames, ed. M. Le Blond,
Paris, 1928 [1st ed. 1882], p. 476.
38. Ibid., p. 11; trans. A. Fitzlyon, London, 1958. For
other parallels between this novel and Degass art, see
Chap. IV, pp. 168-170.
39. Rewald, no. I; dated ca. 1865. It is difficult to
decide whether the wax version is a replica, as stated
there, or a sketch, as stated in Beaulieu, "Sculptures de
Degas, p. 369; the latter seems the more likely.
40. Vollard, Auguste Renoir, p. 95.
41. Lemoisne, "Statuettes de Degas, p. 110.
42. Letter of September 9, 1882; Lettres, pp. 69-71.
On their relationship, see T. Burollet, Bartholom et
Degas," L I nformation de lHistoire de lArt, 12, 1967,
pp. 119-126. In "Degas, oeuvres du Muse du Louvre,
Revue de l Art, no. 7, 1970, p. 104, published concur
rently with the first version of this essay, Thrse
Burollet, too, observes that The Apple Pickers cannot
be dated in the 1860s stylistically, and confirms that
Bartholom cannot have known Degas before 1878
1880.
334
43. R. Raimondi, Degas e la sua famiglia in Napoli,
Naples, 1958, pp. 276-277; see also pis. 25a d, photo
graphs of the letter, from which some errors in the
transcription can be corrected.
44. See her letters to her husband, undated but
probably 1881, and July 4, 1881; quoted in Boggs,
Edgar Degas and Naples,'' pp. 275-276. Thrse was
in Paris again the following summer, but Lucie ap
parently did not accompany her; moreover, Degas
does not anticipate her visit in his letter.
45. See F. Sweet, Miss Mary Cassatt, Norman, 1966,
p. 70.
46. See, for example, his letters to J.-B. Faure,
March 1877, and Alexis Rouait, 1882, Lettres, pp. 40,
61-62.
47. Degas had portrayed her with her uncle around
1876; Lemoisne, no. 394. But neither from this portrait
nor from the photograph of her, also of ca. 1876, re
produced in Boggs, "Edgar Degas and Naples," p. 272,
fig. 34, is it possible to identify her in the preparatory
studies for the relief.
48. See this chapter, note 43. Annes birth date, 1868,
recorded by one of her relatives, was kindly com
municated by Matre Ernest Michel, Nice. In Notebook
34, p. 3, the one containing studies for The Apple
Pickers, there is a sketch of Annes sister Madeleine.
50. Ibid, p. 25. Reproduced in J. S. Boggs, Degas
Notebooks at the Bibliothque NationaleIII, Bur
lington Magazine, 100, 1958, fig. 41, but like the other
studies, described in ibid., p. 246, not related to the
relief.
51. Notebook 34, p. 29. This figure is more difficult
than the others to read in the wax version.
52. Ibid, p. 15. Degas had originally written; Six
heads to the seam.
53. Atelier, II, no. 279. New York Cultural Center, A
Selection o f Drawings, . . . Collection o f Mr. and Mrs.
Francis Avnet, December 9, 1969January 25, 1970,
no. 26.
54. Notebook 34, p. 21. The phrase ttes d a une is
confusing, since the aune, an outm oded unit reserved
for measuring fabrics, was equivalent to 47 inches,
which would make Degas's figure about 20 feet high.
However, it does appear to be the height of five ttes,
the length of a hum an face and a traditional unit of
measure in the fine arts; and since the expression
figure longue d une aune means a face as long as a
fiddle, the tte d a une may signify an unusually long
face used as such a unit.
55. Atelier, IV, no. 156.

56. Notebook 34, pp. 37, 45; there is also a brief
study on p. 43. Notebook 30, pp. 184, 186, 190, 212-213;
used in 1877-1883.
57. Lemoisne, Statuettes dc Degas," p. 110.
58. Notebook 34, p. 1.
59. Vollard, Auguste Renoir, p. 95. The wax version is
46 by 49 cm., or about 18 by 19 inches.
60. See A. Elsen, Rodin, New' York, 1963, pp. 35-48;
and M. Dreyfous, Dalou, sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris,
1903, pp. 140-144, 170-178.
61. See his letter to Charles Deschamps, August 22,
1875; T. Reil, "Some Unpublished Letters of Degas,
Art Bulletin, 50, 1968, p. 89. See also Notebook 34, p.
223, listing the address of Bingen, a founder who redis
covered the lost-wax technique ca. 1880, and was
thereafter employed by Dalou (Dreyfous, Dalou, p.
120), from whom Degas presumably learned about
him. For his contacts with Rodin, see Elsen, Rodin, p.
145, quoting the memoir of Victor Frisch, Rodins as
sistant from 1890 on.
62. See J. L. Wasserman et al., Daumier Sculpture,
Cambridge, 1969, pp. 174-183.
63. Notebook 31, p. ; used in 1878-1879. His model

was The legislative Belly, a lithograph of 1834; see
Chap. II, pp. 73-74.
64. Three iconographically dissimilar examples, all
dated ca. 1880, are At the Races, Caf-Concert Singer,
and Three Dancers; lem oisne, nos. 502, 504, 602, re
spectively.
65. Letter to P.-A. Bartholom, August 14, 1889,
Lettres, pp. 138-139. By "relief," of course, Degas
means three-dimensional form; on its importance in
academic instruction throughout the century, see A.
Boime, The Academy and French Painting in the Nine
teenth Century, London, 1971, pp. 28-30.
66
. Lemoisne, no. 532; dated ca. 1879.
67. Lemoisne, no. 70; dated 1860. This stylistic af

finity may, in fact, explain why he chose to exhibit it
in 1880.
68
. L. R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, Camille Pissarro,

son art, son oeuvre, 2 vols., Paris, 1939, nos. 517, 545.
69. Rewald, no. Lxxrv; not dated.
70. F. Daulte, Auguste Renoir, 5 vols., Lausanne,
1971, I, no. 280; see ibid., nos. 281, 282, 337, all related
subjects. For the type of Guillaumin shown, see C.
Gray, Armand Guillaumin, Chester, 1972, no. 60, pi. 77.
335
Notes: To M ake Sculpture M odern

71. See E. H. Payne, "A Little-Known Bronze by
Degas, Bulletin o f the Detroit Institute of Arts, 36,
1956-1957, pp. 82-85.
72. Notebook 34, pp. 13, 17, 19, respectively; used in
1880-1884. Their relation to this sculpture was first
noted in Boggs, "Degas Notebooks, p. 246, though
they were also related, incorrectly, to the Bust of
Hortense Valpinon.
73. If the Impressionist modeling of The Schoolgirl
differs considerably from the sm ooth surface treat
ment of the Little Dancer, it is very similar to that of
the nude study for the latter.
74. Mantz, "L'Exposition des Indpendants, p. 250.
75. Adhmar, no. 52; dated ca. 1879. See J. S. Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, Berkeley, 1962, pp. 49-50.
77. Lemoisne, no. 532; dated ca. 1879. See Boggs,
Portraits by Degas, p. 50.
78. See Wasserman et al., Daumier Sculpture, pp.
205-247, passim-, however, the attribution to Daumier is
seriously questioned there.
79. Ibid, pp. 161-173. Although not included in the
retrospective exhibition of 1878, it was discussed by
Degass friend, L. E. Durantv, "Daumier, Gazette des
Beaux-Arts, 17, 1878, p. 532.
80. See M. S. Barr, Medardo Rosso, New York, 1963,
pp. 12-13; also ibid., pp. 18-19, a photograph of Rossos
studio in 1882, showing a bronze bust draped with a
real cloth.
81. Ibid, p. 25.
82. Sec Mallet at Bourdon House, London, Sculp
tures by Jules Dalou, April 28-May 9, 1964, pp. 7-8,
nos. - ; also this chapter, note 61.
16
83. C. Gray, Sculpture and Ceramics o f Paul Gauguin,

Baltimore, 1963, no. 4. Illustrated above is the terra
cotta version, rather than the wooden one that Gau
guin exhibited, since it is in better condition.
84. Sec J. Rewald, The History o f Impressionism,
4th ed., New York, 1973, pp. 423, 439, 449; also ibid.,
pp. 493. 514, 542-543, on their disagreements.
85. Letter of 1881 or 1882; Archives de Camille Pis
sarro, Htel Drouot, Paris, November 21, 1975, no. 46.
See also his previous letter; ibid., no. 45.
86
. Huysmans, L'Art modeme, p. 242.
87. Gray, Sculpture and Ceramics o f Paul Gauguin,

p. 2, fig. 1; dated there ca. 1880-1883. In reviewing the
latter, in Art Bulletin, 46, 1964, p. 582, W. V. Andersen
argued that The Little Parisian "should be dated to the

sum m er of 1881, when Gauguin worked with Pissarro
at Pontoisc. But he overlooked that they had also
worked together in 1879 and 1880; see Rewald, History
o f Impressionism, pp. 602-603.
88
. See L Venturi, Les Archives de l Impressionnisme,

2 vols., Paris, 1939, II, p. 266; and E Cachin, Gauguin,
Paris, 1968, pp. 52-55.
89. Notebook 34, p. 208; used in 1880-1884. See Gray,

Sculpture and Ceramics o f Paul Gauguin, no. .
90. Huysmans, L A rt modeme, pp. 228-229.
91. Rewald. pp. 21-22. On Degas and the Valpinons,
see Boggs, Portraits by Degas, pp. 35-37; and this
chapter, note 94.
92. le tte rs to Henri Rouart, September 1884, and
P.-A Bartholom, September 15, 1884; Lettres, pp. 89,
91.
93. In addition to the letters cited in the previous note,
see those in Lettres, pp. , 90, 91-92, 93, most of which
are undated and may be in the wrong order. For
Hortense Valpinon's memoir, see S. Barazzetti,
"Degas et ses amis Valpinon," part 1, Beaux-Arts,
no. 190, August 21, 1936, p. 3, and part 2, ibid., no. 191,
August 28, 1936, pp. 1, 4.
86
94. Letter to Ludovic Halvv, 1884, lettres, p. 90. On

the drawings, see J. S. Boggs, Drawings by Degas,
Greenwich, 1967, nos. 113, 114; and Barazzetti, Degas
et ses amis Valpinon, part 1, p. 3, and part 2, p. 1.
95. See C. Virch, Master Drawings in the Collection o f
Walter C. Baker, New York, 1962, no. 104; and Baraz
zetti, Degas et ses amis Valpinon, part 2, p. 1.
96. See Barazzetti, Degas et ses amis Valpinon,"
part 2, p. 1. On his later dating of early drawings,
sometimes inaccurately, see T. Reff, "New Light on
Degass Copies, Burlington Magazine, 106, 1964, p. 251.
97. Letter to P.-A. Bartholom, October 3, 1884,
Lettres, pp. 92-93; the presence of the sketch is not
indicated there. It was published in J. Rewald, Degas,
Works in Sculpture, New York, 1944, p. 10.
98. See Barazzetti, "Degas et ses amis Valpinon,
part 2, p. 1, quoting Hortense.
99. I .emoisne, no. 869; dated 1886. According to
Boggs, Portraits by Degas, p. , it had been begun one
or two years earlier; thus it was strictly contemporary
with the bust of Hortense.
68
100
86
. Letters to Ludovic Halvy and Henri Rouart,

1884, Lettres, pp. , 89.
Degas: T h e A r tists M in d
336

no. . Although dated ca. 1881 in the older literature, it
is inscribed 1884.
. For Pissarros experiments, see B. S. Shapiro,

Camille Pissarro, The Impressionist Printmaker, Boston,
1973, unpaged [pp. 7-9].
103. Lemoisne, no. 340; dated 1873-1874. The Metro

politan M useums version is no. 400; dated 1873-1874.
Moreover, in the 1880s no. 340 was in French collec
tions and no. 400 in a less accessible English collection;
see R. Pickvance, Degass Dancers, 1872-1876, Bur
lington Magazine, 105, 1963, pp. 259-260.
7. G. Jeanniot, Souvenirs sur Degas, Revue Uni

verselle, 55, 1933, pp. 167-168. Jeanniot had m et Degas
around 1881.
104. The dancer at the right of this group is based on

The Ballet or its variant, Dancers, Lemoisne, nos. 838,
841; dated ca. 1885, but more likely of ca. 1880. The
dancer in the center is apparently based on Two
Dancers Coming on Stage, ibid., no. 448; dated
1877-1878. The dancer at the left has no obvious source
in Degas, but is sim ilar to a type seen in The Ballet,
ibid, no. 838.
105. See Gray, Sculpture and Ceramics o f Paul
Gauguin, pp. 4-5.
106. A. Mellerio, Odilon Redon, Paris, 1913, no. 44.
The sam e print influenced a later work of Gauguin's;
see M. Roskill, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and the Impres
sionist Circle, Greenwich, 1970, p. 243.
no. 12. The type of dancer represented is th at in Dancer
Bowing with a Bouquet, Lemoisne, no. 474; dated
ca. 1878.
108. See this chapter, note 105. In his paintings,
Gauguin continued to be influenced by Degas as late as
1889; see Tate Gallery, London, Gauguin and the PontAven Group, January 7February 13, 1966, nos. 16-19.
VII. The Artist as Technician

1. A. Vollard, Degas, Paris, 1924, p. 80. This state
m ent and the others in A. Vollard, "Degas et la tech
nique, Beaux-Arts, no. 219, M arch 12, 1937, p. 3, are
sim ply reprinted from the earlier publication.
Rouault had m et Degas in the 1890s, through his
teacher Gustave Moreau.
3. D. Rouart, Degas a la recherche de sa technique,
Paris, 1945. See the review by J. Rewald, in Magazine o f
Art, 40, 1947, p. 38.
. Letter to Jam es Tissot, February 18, 1873; Paris,

Bibliothque Nationale, Nouv. Acq. Fr. 13005, fol. ;
published only in English, in Lettres, Eng. trans., p. 32.
His later views arc reported in P. Valery', Degas Manet
Morisot, trans. D. Paul, New' York, 1960, p. 99; from
Degas danse dessin, Paris, 1936.
9. See D. G. Charlton, Positivist Thought in France

during the Second Empire, Oxford, 1959, especially
Chap. V.
10. J.-E. Blanche, Propos de peintre, de David
Degas, Paris, 1919, p. 258. See also D. Halvy, My
Friend Degas, trans. M. Curtiss, Middletown, 1964,
pp. 59-60, reporting his rem ark, "The conversation of
specialists is so enjoyable; you dont understand it, but
it's charm ing.
11. E. and J. de Goncourt, Journal, mmoires de la
vie littraire, ed. R. Ricatte, 22 vols., Monaco, 1956, X,
pp. 163-165; dated February 13, 1874.
12. See J. Adhmar, Before the Degas Bronzes, Art
News, 54, no. 7, November 1955, p. 35; based on an
interview with Palazzolo, w ho had known Degas
around 1910.
13. L etter to Bracquem ond, 1879, Lettres, pp. 48-50.
The notes on aquatinting are in Notebook 30, p. 22;
used in 1877-1883.
14. Notebook 26, pp. 67, 60, 58, respectively; used in
1875-1877.
15. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 5-6.
16. See the rem arks reported by A. Andr, Renoir,
Paris, 1928, pp. 13-14,55-60; also Renoirs preface to C.
Cennini, Le Livre de lan, trans. V. Mottez, Paris, 1911
[1st ed., w ithout preface, 1858], pp. viii-ix.
17. See E. P. Janis, Degas Monotypes, Cambridge,
1968, pp. xvii-xviii.
4. Letter to Leontine de Nittis, July 1876; M. Pittaluga and E. Piceni, De Nittis, Milan, 1963, p. 359.
18. Rouart, Degas la recherche de sa technique,

pp. 16-34. See also D. Cooper, Pastels by Edgar Degas,
New York, 1953, pp. 1213; and B. Dunstan, "The
Pastel Techniques of E dgar Degas, American Artist,
36, no. 362, Septem ber 1972, pp. 41-47.
5. Letter to Pissarro, 1880, Lcttres, pp. 52-54. Ac

cording to Guerin, ibid., p. 54, note 2, Degas never
carried out these experim ents."
19. Lemoisne, nos. 498, 847; dated 1878-1879 and

ca. 1885. But no. 498 is in fact no later th an 1874, as R.
Pickvance, "Degas's Dancers, 1872-1876, Burlington
337
Notes: The Artist as Technician

Magazine, 105, 1963, p. 263, has shown. On Degass
admiration for La Tour, see J. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas,
ed. P. Borel, Geneva, 1949, pp. 69-70.
de l A rt Franais, 24, 1932, pp. 44-45; he W'as a student

at the Ecole from 1897 to 1906. See also Rouart, Degas
la recherche de sa technique, pp. 63, 67-68.
20. See E. Moreau-Nlaton, "Deux heures avec

Degas, L A mour de l'Art, 12, 1931, p. 269; based on an
interview in 1907. According to E. Rouan, "Degas, Le
Point, no. 1, February 1937, p. 22, Chialiva also gave
him pastels that were both vivid and light-fast. Dancers
in the Wings is Lemoisne, no. 1015; dated ca. 1896.
33. Lemoisne, no. 380; dated 1875-1877. For a more

detailed analysis, see Rouart, Degas la recherche de
sa technique, p. .
21. Sec Dunstan, The Pastel Techniques of F.dgar

Degas," p. 46.
22. Lemoisne, no. 545; dated ca. 1879. For descrip
tions of the techniques employed, see Rouart, Degas
la recherche de sa technique, pp. 22-25; and J. S. Boggs,
Drawings by Degas, Greenwich, 1967, no. 93.
23. Notebook 33, p. 3 verso; used in 1879-1882.
24. See M. Guerin, Notes sur les monotypes de
Degas, L Amour de l Art, 5, 1924, p. 77. The prepara
tory study is Lemoisne, no. 70; dated 1860. See also
Boggs, Drawings by Degas, no. 36.
25. Ijemoisne, no. 408; dated 1876-1877. Rouart,

Degas la recherche de sa technique, p. 10, states in
correctly that the medium is tempera. Later examples
of Degas's use of oiled paper are Achille de Gas and
Four Studies o f a Groom, Lemoisne, nos. 307, 383;
dated 1872-1873 and 1875-1877.
26. Ijemoisne, nos. 610, 1029; dated ca. 1888 and ca.
1890, though no. 610 was evidently begun about 1880
and reworked at the later date. On the technique of no.
1029, see Rouart, Degas la recherche de sa technique,
pp. 44-49.
27. Vollard, Degas, pp. 77-78. However, Vollard is
often an unreliable source; see T. Red, Czanne and
Poussin," Journal o f the Warburg and Courtauld Insti
tutes, 23, 1960, pp. 154-155.
28. See Boggs, Drawings by Degas, no. 25 verso,
though the description of the media employed is in
complete.
29. Ibid, no. 41. Reproduced in color in H. Rivire,
Les Dessins de Degas, 2 vols., Paris, 1922-1923, no. 14.
30. Lemoisne, nos. 363, 367 bis; dated 1875 and ca.
1875. The redating of the latter to ca. 1872 in Boggs,
Drawings by Degas, no. , is unconvincing.
22
34. Lemoisne, no. 585; dated ca. 1880. See Rouart,

Degas la recherche de sa technique, pp. 18-20.
35. Lemoisne, no. 564; dated ca. 1879. On some of
his other fans, see Klipstein and Komfeld, Bern, Choix
d une collection prive, October 22November 30, I960,
pp. 18-33. On the surimono prints, already popular by
1880, sec P. D. Cate, Japanese Influence on French
Prints, 1883-1910, in Japonisme, Japanese Influence on
French Art, 1854-1910, Cleveland, 1975, p. 54.
36. G. Moore, "Degas, The Painter of Modem Life,
Magazine o f Art, 13, 1890, p. 423. See Lemoisne, no.
400; dated ca. 1876, but more likely of 1873; see the
following note.
37. See Pickvance, "Degass Dancers, pp. 259-263.
38. Adhmar, no. 54; dated 1879-1880. Illustrated
above is the fifteenth state.
39. Adhmar, no. 37; dated 1876-1877. The pentimenti visible in the standing figure suggest that the
design was drawn directly on the plate, without a
preliminary study.
40. See Shapiro, Camille Pissarro, unpaged [p.
8
],
41. It is The Engraver Joseph Toumy, Adhmar, nos.

7, ; dated 1857. The later teclinique was evidently
inspired by the so-called eau-forte mobile of Degass
friend Ludovic Lepic; see University of Chicago, Etch
ings by Edgar Degas, May 4June 12, 1964, no. .
42. Adhmar, no. 50; dated ca. 1879, a time when

Degas and Cassatt were collaborating on prints.
43. Adhmar, no. 63; dated ca. 1890. See Washington
University, St. Louis, Lithographs by Edgar Degas,
January 7-28, 1967, no. 18.
44. Adhmar, no. 42; dated ca. 1877. See Lithographs
by Edgar Degas, no. 3.
66
45. See Gurin, "Notes sur les monotypes de Degas,

p. 77; and Lithographs by Edgar Degas, nos. 5, .
31. A charcoal drawing and its rewor ked counter

proof are illustrated in Dunstan, "Pastel Techniques of
Edgar Degas, p. 47.
46. Cachin, no. 167; dated ca. 1880. See Janis, Degas
Monotypes, Catalogue, no. 37.
32. See J. Cliialiva, "Comment Degas a change sa

technique du dessin, Bulletin de la Socit de l Histoire
47. Cachin, no. I ll; dated ca. 1880. For the range of
effects that Degas could obtain by these means, see the
other monotypes in this series, ibid., nos. 83-123.
D egas: The A rtists M in d
338
48. Not in Cachin, because reworked in pastel. See
Lemoisne, no. 1054, dated 1890-1893; and Janis, Degas
Monotypes, Catalogue, no.
. For the notebook p as
sage, see I. A. Richter, The Literary Works o f Leonardo
da Vinci, 2 vols., London, 1939, I, pp. 311-312.
68
49. Janis, Degas Monotypes, p. xxvi. For color repro

ductions, see D. Rouart, Degas, paysages en mono
type, L Oeil, no. 117, Septem ber 1964, pp. 10-15.
50. Rewald, no. xx; dated 1880-1881, See ibid., pp.
16-20; and Chap. VI, pp. 242-248. Illustrated above is a
bronze cast with a muslin tutu and satin ribbon only.
51. See J.-K. H uysmans, "LExposition des Indpen
dants en 1881, L A rt moderne, Paris, 1883, p. 227.
52. See L. Tannenbaum , "Degas, Illustrious and
Unknown, Art News, 65, no. 1, January 1967, p. 53.
53. Rewald, nos. l x v i i i , xxvu; dated 1896-1911 and
ca. 1886, though the latter is m ore likely of ca. 1889see the following note. Illustrated above is a bronze
cast of it, where the differences in m aterial are ob
scured.
54. Letter to P.-A Bartholom, June 13, 1889, Lettres,
p. 135.
55. Lemoisne, no. 206; dated 1869, but m ore likely of
ca. 1871. See S. Barazzetti, Degas et ses am is
Valpinon, Beaux-Arts, no. 190, August 21, 1936, p. 3;
based on an interview with H ortense Valpinon.
56. Adhmar, no. 49; dated 1879-1880, but m ore
likely of ca. 1882. See Rouart, Degas la recherche de
sa technique, p. 65; and Degass letter to Alexis Rouart,
1882, Lettres, pp. 61-62. Illustrated above is the eighth
state.
57. See B. Newhall, Degas, photographe am ateur,
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 61, 1963, pp. 61-64, and the
letters published there.
58. In the Bulletin de la Socit Franaise de Photo
graphie, June 15, 1895; see Newhall, Degas, photo
graphe am ateu r, p. 61.
59. J. Cocteau, Le Secret professioneI, Paris, 1922;
quoted in L. Hoctin, Degas photographe, L'Oeil, no.
65, May I960, pp. 39-40. See also G uiins rem arks, in
Lettres, p. 224, note 1.
60. See A. Scharf, Art and Photography, Baltimore,
1974, p. 356.
61. Notebook 31, p. 81; used in 1878-1879. See E. J.
Marey, "M oteurs anim s, experiences de physiologie
graphique, La Nature, October 5, 1878; and G. Tissandier, "Les Allures du cheval, ibid., December 14, 1878.
62. See Scharf, Art and Photography, pp. 205-208,

359; and Van Deren Coke, The Painter and the Photo
graph, Albuquerque, 1964, pp. 158-162.
63. Rouault, Souvenirs intimes, p. 94. The choice of
Memling as an example, however, suggests R ouault's
interests of the 1890s m ore than Degass.
64. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs su r Degas," pp. 167-168.
See also Vollard, Degas, p. 79, repotting his uncertainty
about methods of priming a canvas.
65. Halvy, My Friend Degas, pp. 103-104.
66
. Morcau-Nlaton, "Deux heures avec Degas,

p. 269.
67. Not in Lemoisne; see T. Reff, "New Light on
D egass Copies, Burlington Magazine, 106, 1964, pp.
255-256, fig. 10. For the other copies, see Lemoisne, nos.
193,193 its; dated 1868-1872, but more likely of ca. 1865.
68
. Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas, p. 154.
69. See E. P. Janis, The Role of the Monotype in the

Working Method of Degas, Burlington Magazine, 109,
1967, pp. 21-22. According to this source, about eighty
monotypes were reworked in pastel.
70. Lemoisne, no. 456; dated 1877-1879. See Janis,
Degas Monotypes, Checklist, no. 43; and H. Troendle,
Das M onotype als Untermalung; zur B etrachtung der
Arbeitsweise von Degas, Kunst un d Knstler, 23, 1925,
pp. 357-360.
71. Lemoisne, no. 1231; dated ca. 1896. For a more
detailed discussion, see Rouart, Degas la recherche de
sa technique, p. 50.
72. Valry, Degas M anet Morisot, p. 94. For R ouarts
copy, which has recently come to light, see Muse du
Louvre, Paris, Le Studiolo d Isabelle d Este, May 31
O ctober 13, 1975, no. 187.
73. Not in Lemoisne; published in Reff, "New Light
on Degass Copies, p. 256, fig. 5; see also Le Stu
diolo d Isabelle d'Este, no. 186. Rouart, quoted in Valry,
Degas M anet Morisot, p. 95, describes Degas working
on it.
74. Cennini, Ij> Livre de l art, pp. 51-54, 107-108.
M ottezs notes, ibid., p. 153, actually state that "this
system of Giotto's w as later that of Titian and of the
whole Venetian school. And the well-known treatise
by J. F. L. Mrime, The Art o f Painting in Oil and in
Fresco, London, 1839 [1st ed. Paris, 1830], pp. 284-285,
cites Cenninis passage as a model for coloring in
general.
75. Fvre, Mon Oncle Degas, p. 26.
339
N otes: T h e A rtist as T echnician

76. C. L. Eastlake, Materials for a History o f Oil
Painting, 2 vols., London, 1847-1869, II, chap. VI. There
was no French translation, but Degas did read English.
See also Mrs. [M. P.] Merrifield, Original Treatises . . .
on the Arts o f Painting 2 vols., London, 1849, I, pp.
cxvii-cxlviii, sum m arizing opinions of em inent Italian
artists as to the practice of the old m asters.
77. Jeanniot, Souvenirs sur Degas, pp. 293-294.
The only known picture that fits this description, In the
Caf, Lemoisne, no. 624, dated 18801885, is painted on
panel, not canvas.
78. Rouault, Souvenirs intimes, p. 94. Significantly,
Degass friend Chialiva m aintained that Leonardo had
used peinture l\essence as a m eans of underpainting
before glazing; see Rouart, Degas la recherche de sa
technique, p. 15.
79. Valry, Degas Manet Morisot, pp. 93-94; from the
rem iniscences of Ernest Rouart. The picture is Le
moisne, no. 146; dated 1866-1868.
80. Rouart, Degas h la recherche de sa technique,
p. 10. See Cennini, Le Livre de Iart, pp. 94-95, 117.
81. Vollard, Degas, pp. 75-76.
82. Goncourt, Journal, XVII, p. 64; dated June 7,
1890. The picture in question is probably The Dancing
School, lem oisne, no. 399, dated ca. 1876; it is painted
in distemper.
83. Lemoisne, nos. 91, 587; dated 1861-1862 and ca.
1880. See also Ernest R ouarts observation, reported in
Valcrv, Degas M anet Morisot, pp. 92-93: "The urge to
revise an unfinished work to his taste never left him,
and many were the canvases he kept at hom e with a
view to retouching them ."
84. Ibid., p. 92.
85. See Jeanniot, "Souvenirs sur Degas, pp. 299300; and P.-A. Lemoisne, "Les Statuettes de Degas,
Art et Decoration, 36, 1914-1919, p. 114.
86
. See A. Michel, "Degas et son modle, Mercure

de France, 131, 1919, pp. 471-473. The author had been
his model in the early 1900s.
87. Letter to R. Cortissoz, June 7, 1919; quoted in the
latter's Personalities in Art, New York, 1925, pp. 245246.
88
. Moore, "Degas, The Painter o f Modem Life,

p. 416. Only one of the figurines, the Little Dancer o f
Fourteen Years, was dressed in a muslin skirt, as far as
we know.
89. See Rewald, pp. 12-13. However, according to
Adhmar, "Before the Degas Bronzes, p. 35, he did
seek advice from experts such as Palazzolo about
reinforcing the arm atures of his statuettes.
90. A. Vollard, Auguste Renoir, Paris, 1920, p. 95. See
also the m em oir of Bartholom, recorded in Lemoisne,
S tatuettes de Degas, p. 110.
91. Rewald, no. T; dated 1865-1870, but in fact of ca.
1881. On its date and developm ent, see Chap. VI, pp.
249-256.
92. See Rewald, pp. 21-22; and Barazzetti, Degas et
ses amis Valpincon, pp. 1,4; also Chap. VI, pp. 264-267.
93. Letter to Henri Rouart, 1884, Lettres, p. 89.
94. K. Clark, Leonardo da Vinci, Cambridge, 1939, p.
. See the interpretation proposed in S. Freud, Leo
nardo da Vinci, Eng. trans., New' York, 1947, pp. 32-35,
115-116.
88
95. See this chapter, p. 298. The com parison was

draw n still earlier by Diego Martelli in his pam phlet Gli
Impressionisti, Pisa, 1880; reprinted in his Scritti d arte,
ed. A. Boschetto, Florence, 1952, p. 106.
96. R. H. Ives Gammell, The Shop-Talk o f Edgar
Degas, Boston, 1961, p. 46.
97. Henri Rivires reminiscence of Degas; reported
in Lemoisne, I, p. 46. He had known Degas in the 1890s.
Index
Page n um bers in italic type indicate illustrations.
A lex an d re, A rsne, 200

A ndre, E llen, 260, 262
Angle (m odel), 225, 227
Arabian Nights, 160
Artiste, L \ 205, 206
A strae, Z acharie, 100, 101
121
B a lz a c , H o n o r de,
, 219
Banville, T h o do re de
Little Treatise on French Poetry, 189,
191
B arbey d A urevilly, Ju les, 149, 150, 159,
160,
172
D andyism , 160
Diaboliques, 159
B arbizon, 188
B arnes (p h o to g rap h er), 309 n. 44
In g ress Apotheosis o f H om er, p aro d y
of, 52
B arrias, Flix, 128
B arth o lo m , Paul A lbert, 120, 144, 249,
250, 254, 267, 292, 301, 333 n. 42
B audelaire, C harles, 11, 56, 147, 150
A esthetic Curiosities, 150
R o m a n tic Art, 150
Bazille, Frdric
A rtists Studio, 146
B eaucousin, E d m o n d , 158
B eethoven, L udw ig van, 124
Bell, Larry, 242
Bellelli fam ily, 95, 216
Bellelli, G en n aro , 313 n. 20
Bellelli, L aure, 96
Bellini, G iovanni, 107
B rard , Paul, 257
Berlioz, H ector, 121
B ingen (founder), 334 n. 61
B ism arck, O tto von, 75
340
B lanche, Jacques-E m ile, 17, 114, 148, 196,

198,
272
Aymeris, 196
B ocage (Pierre Tousez), 122
B onnard, Pierre
Som e A spects o f Paris Life, 34
B onnat, Lon, 89, 312 n. 141
B ordier, A rthur, 220
B oucher, F ranois, 129
B o uguereau, W illiam, 196
Boulanger-C av, A lbert, 183, 184, 192, 196
B oussod an d Valadon (dealers), 317 n.
114
B racq u em o n d , Flix, 100, 135, 227, 273,
274
B ram e, H ector, 82, 315 n. 69
B rantm e, Pierre de Bourdeilles, Seig
n e u r de, 149
B rillat-S avarin, A nthelm e
Physiology o f Taste, 189
B ronzino, Agnolo
Portrait o f a Sculptor, 94
B urrell, W illiam, 18
B yron, G eorge G ordon, Lord
H eb rew M elodies, 154
C a lm e t, A ugustin, 154
Carlyle, T hom as, 24, 25
C assagne, A rm and
Practical Treatise on Perspective, 330 n.
104
C assatt, L ydia, 132, 134, 136, 138, 242, 250
C assatt, M ary, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138,
141,
242, 250, 287
Castelli, H orace, 327 n. 27
Cennini, C ennino, 338 n. 74
C raftsm an's H andbook, 298, 299
C ervantes, M iguel de
341
Don Quixote, 160
Cervetri, 134, 242
sarcophagus from, 135
C zanne, Paul, 9, 10, 37, 87, 124, 125, 144,
146, 186, 195, 198, 214, 215
Chabrillat, H enri, 246, 333 n. 26
C ham pfleury (Jules H usson), 164
C ham psaur, Flicien
Lover o f Dancers, 194, 195
Chardin, Jean-B aptiste-Sim on, 140
Charivari, Le, 81, 85
C harpentier, Georges, 165
C hassriau, Thodore, 38, 56, 61
C hateaubriand, Franois-R en de
"R om antic M elodies," 154
Cherfils, Alphonse, 84, 99
C hesneau, E rnest, 106
"P hysiognom ists, 235
Chialiva, Luigi, 274, 276, 294, 337 n. 20,
339 n. 78
Chopin, Frdric, 121, 122, 123
Claretie, Jules, 243, 246, 247
Clark, K enneth, 302
Clauss, Fanny, 330 n. 114
Clauss, Jenny, 225, 227, 330 n. 114
Clouet, Franois
Elizabeth o f Austria, 97, 313 n. 26
Self-Portrait (?), 97
Cocteau, Jean, 292
Colet, Louise, 150
Corot, Jean-Baptiste-C am ille, 37, 52, 85,
, 130, 138, 140, 145, 308 n. 11, 312 n.
132, 319 n. 171
A rtists Studio, 319 n. 177
Naples and the Castello d ellOvo, 138,
139, 140
Courbet, G ustave, 43, 52, , 124, 147, 163,
188, 222, 310 n. 77, 312 n. 132, 314 n. 52
A ndler Keller, 330 n. 95
Storm y Sea, 324 n. 155
Woman with the Parrot, 234
C ranach, Lucas, 104
w orkshop of
Frederick the Wise, 103, 104
Cros, Charles, 189
Cusset, Mme, 247, 333 n. 34
86
86
Cuvelier, Joseph, 332 n. 7

Cyrenaica, 72
D alo u , Jules, 242, 255, 261, 262, 334 n. 61

Embroiderer, 262
Fraternity, 255
M irabeau Replying to Dreux-Brz, 255
Parisian W oman N ursing a Child, 262
Reading Lesson, 262
D ante Alighieri, 149
Daubigny, C harles-Franois, 73
D audet, Alphonse, 161, 166, 247, 322 n. 81
D aum ier, H onor, II, 28, 37, 38, 39, 40,
70-87, 99, 175, 242, 255, 261, 308 n. 11,
311 n. 122, 332 n. 155
Amateurs, 84, 99
Ancient History, 71
A t the Champs Elyses, 79
Comic Actors on Stage, 84
Dancer Who Prides Herself on H aving
Conserved the Noble Traditions, 78
1830 and 1833, 311 n. I l l
Emigrants, 255
Evening o f a First Performance, 78
Laundress, 82, 83
Leading Singer o f a Caf-Concert, 80
Legislative Belly, 72, 73, 74, 75, 334 n. 63
Liberty o f the Press, 311 n. 100
M an Seated in an Armchair, 85
M other o f the Singer, 81
Orchestra during the Performance o f a
Tragedy, 77
Past, Present, Future, 74, 75
Ratapoil, 261
Rue Transnonain, 311 n. 100
Telemachus and Mentor, 71, 72
David, Jacques-Louis, 37
Degas, H ilaire G erm ain E dgar, passim.
See also Gas, de.
Absinthe, 119, 170, 308 n.
Achille de Gas, 337 n. 25
After the Bath, 296
Alexander and Bucephalus, 45, 299, 300
Alfred de Musset, study for, 158
Amateurs, 84, 85, 99
Apple Pickers, 239, 249, 249-256, 258,
Degas: The Artist s M ind
342
D egas, c o n tin u ed fro m previous page
261,
264, 302, 333 n. 42
stu d ies for, 251, 251-254, 252, 253
A rabian Nights, illu stra tio n of, 321 n. 51
A t L es A m bassadeurs: Mlle Bcat, 288
A t the Caf-Concert, 34, 35, 308 n.
A t the Caf-Concert: The S o n g o f the
Dog, 79, 283

A t the Louvre: M ary Cassatt in the
E truscan Gallery, 94, 134, 138, 243
stu d y for, 136, 242, 243, 248
A t the Louvre: Mary Cassatt in the
Painting Gallery, 285
A t the M illin ers, 168, 169, 170
A t the Races, 334 n. 64
At the Seashore, 19, 20, 21, 188
Ballet, 176, 177, 336 n. 104
Ballet Class, 299, 301
Ballet fro m R obert le D iable, 221, 327
n. 33
Ballet Master, 282
Ballet R ehearsal on Stage, 274
B anker, see S u lk in g
Barbey d A urevilly in the Salon o f M m e
Hayem, 159
Bath, 278, 279
Bellelli Family, 26, 27, 28, 48, 93, 95, 96,
97,
98, 110, 113, 143, 145,216, 223,313
n. 18, 313 n. 27
stu d ies for, 97, 98
Billiard R oom , 141, 142, 143
Boy C lim bing a Tree, 253, 254
B ro n zin o s Portrait o f a Sculptor, copy
after, 94
Caf-Concert a t L es A m bassadeurs, 78,
79
Caf-Concert Singer, 334 n. 64
Caf-Concert Singer Wearing a Glove,
85
C arica tu re stu d ies, 74, 75
Cellist Pilet, 93, 121, 122, 123, 144, 145,
146
Children a n d Ponies in a Park, 314 n. 53
Collector o f Prints, 90, 98, 99, 100, 101,
106,
138, 144, 145, 307 n. 44
Conversation, 120
Cotton M erchants, 144
C rouching N ude Seen fro m B ehind, 308

n.
Dance Class, 330 n. 102
Dance Rehearsal, 330 n. 102
D ancer B ow ing w ith a B ouquet, 336 n.
107
D ancer on Stage, 247
D ancer w ith a Fan, 276
Dancers, 336 n. 104
Dancers at the Bar, 277, 278, 300
Dancers b eh in d a Stage Flat, 283
Dancers in the Wings, 276
D ancers' Green R oom , 92
D ancers Preparing fo r the Ballet, 321 n.
68
Dancers R o ckin g Back a n d Forth, 178,
179
D ancing School, 339 n. 82
D ante a n d Virgil, stu d y for, 280
Daughter o f Jephthah, 45, 58, 59, 60, 61,
152, 313 n. 18
stu d ies for, 46, 47, 58, 60, 153
D au m iers Legislative Belly, copy after,
73, 74
D elacroixs Attila Scourging Italy, copy
after, 57
D elacroixs Battle o f Poitiers, copy
after, 64, 67, 70
D elacroixs Christ on the Sea o f Galilee,
copy a fter, 57, 58
D elacroixs C om bat o f the G iaour a n d
the Pasha, copy after, 57
D elacroixs E ntom bm ent, copy after,
57, 58
D elacroixs E ntry o f the Crusaders into
C onstantinople, copy after, 57, 58, 59
D elacroixs Fanatics o f Tangier, copy
after, 68, 69, 141
D elacroixs H am let a n d the Two G rave
diggers, copy a fter, 309 n.
D elacroixs M assacre at Scio, copy
after, 309 n.
66
66
D elacroixs M irabeau Protesting to

Dreux-Brz, copy after, 57
D elacroixs Ovid in Exile a m o n g the
Scythians, copy a fter, 57
D elacroixs Piet, copy after, 57, 58
Index
Degas, co ntinu ed fro m previous page
Diego Martelli, 94, 131, 132, 145
Dressed D ancer at Rest, 241
Duel, 320 n. 11
Duel, 78
E d m o n d D uranty, 24, 25, 50, 67, 74, 119,
161, 183
stu d y for, 50
Ellen A ndre, 260
E m m a Dobigny, 118, 119
False Start, 117
Fam ous G ood Friday Dinner, 185
Fan: Dancers, 284
Fan: Spanish Dancers a n d M usicians,
156, 157
F our D ancers Waiting in the Wings, 310
n. 90
F our Studies o f a Groom, 337 n. 25
Foyer, 289
G auguin's Bust o f Clovis, copy after,
263
G entlem en's Race: Before the Start, 65,
67
G iorgione's Fte Champtre, copy
after, 92, 93
G oncourt, E d m o n d de, c aric a tu re of,
76, 174
G o n co u rts Prostitute Elisa, illu stra
tions of, 172, 173, 204
G reek vases, copies after, 152
H alvys Cardinal Family, illu stratio n s
of, 204
H ead o f a Woman, 286, 287
H enri M ichel-Lvy, 94, 125, 126, 127,
140, 238, 248
H lne R ouart, 94, 131, 136, 137, 138,
139, 140, 145, 267
H enri R ouart a n d His D aughter Hlne,
94,
130, 131
H ortense Valpinqon, bust, 264, 265, 266,
267, 302
H ortense Valpinqon, d raw ing, 265, 266
H ortense Valpinqon, p aintin g , 292
Iliad, q u o ta tio n from , a n d signatures,
41
Im itatio n s of sig n atu res, 39, 40, 41, 56,
70
343
In the Caf, 339 n. 77
In the Salon, 181
In the Wings: Two D ancers in Rose, 178
In g re ss A potheosis o f H omer, copy
after, 44, 45
In g re ss A potheosis o f H omer, paro d y
of, 52, 53
In g ress M artyrdom o f St. Sym phorian,
copy a fter, 43, 44
In g re ss R o g er Freeing Angelica, copyafter, 43, 45
In g re ss Valpinqon Bather, copy after,
43
In terio r (The Rape), 10, 144, 170, 200238, 201, 327 n. , 330 n. 101
stu d ies for, 206, 207, 208, 208-213,
209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 217, 221, 316
n. 107
Interior (H orow itz collection), 91, 92,
141
Interior (L ouvre), 330 n. 98
Interior Scene, 216
Jam es Tissot in an A rtists Studio, 28,
90, 98, 101,102,103, 105, 106, 107,108,
109, 138, 140, 144, 145, 223, 227, 319 n.
177
K ing C a ndaules Wife, stu d y for, 46,
151
Landscape w ith Chim neys, 290
La Tours Portrait o f a Man, copy after,
315 n. 71
Laundresses Carrying Linen, 82, 175
Leaving the Bath, 308 n.
Little D ancer o f Fourteen Years, 11, 17,
239-248, 240, 245, 253, 254, 259, 261,
264, 290, 335 n. 73, 339 n.
stu d ies for, 239, 241, 244, 245, 246
L u d o vic H alvy a n d A lbert BoulangerCav, 183, 192
88
L udovic H alvy M eeting M m e Cardinal

Backstage, 80, 184
M anet Standing, stu d ies for, 238
M a n te g n a s Virtues Victorious over the
Vices, copy after, 69, 141, 297
M arguerite de Gas, 114
M ary Cassatt at the Louvre, 94, 132,133,
144, 145, 146
344
Degas, c o n tin u ed fro m p revious page
stu d y for, 98, 133
M asseuse, 332 n.
M a u p a ssa n ts Tellier E stablishm ent, il
lu stra tio n s of, 161
M eilhac an d H alvys Grasshopper, il
lu stra tio n of, 187
M isfortunes o f the City o f Orleans, 61,
216, 2/7, 280
M iss La La a t the Cirque Fernando, 171,
178,
180
Mile D ubourg, 330 n. 99
Mile Fiocre in the Ballet fro m La
S o u rc e, 29, 30, 214, 232, 298, 306 n.
40,
327 n. 33
stu d ies for, 232
M m e C am us at the Piano, 124, 220, 221
M m e C am us w ith a Fan, 319 n. 168
M m e Gaujelin, 162
M m e R o u a rt a n d Hlne, 72, 319 n. 172
M. a n d M m e Paul Valpinqon, 48
M usicians in the Orchestra, 78
N ude Woman C om bing H er Hair, 296
N ude W oman S tanding at H er Toilette,
287
Orchestra o f the Opera, 76, 77, 79, 123,
125, 220
Pauline a n d Virginia Conversing w ith

Adm irers, 184
Pedicure, 144
P hysiognom y o f a Criminal, 219, 220
Place de la Concorde, 34
Portraits at the Bourse, 170, 311 n. 122
Portraits in an Office, 144, 224, 321 n.
P o u ssin s Rape o f the Sabines, copy
after, 163, 199
Project fo r Portraits in a Frieze, 255,
256, 260, 262
Rape, see Interior
R ehearsal o f a Ballet on Stage (Louvre),
267, 269, 332 n. 156
R ehearsal o f a Ballet on Stage (M etro
p olitan M useum ), 284, 285
R en-H ilaire de Gas, 96, 97
R en o ir a n d M allarm in Berthe M ori
s o ts Salon, 187, 189, 190
68
Repose, 182
R ose D ancers before the Ballet, 178
Savoisienne, 49
Scene fro m a Ballet, 278, 279
Schoolgirl, 241, 257, 257-264, 335 n. 73
S eb astian o del P io m b o s H oly Family,
copy a fter, 295
Self-Portrait, 15, 16, 103
Self-Portrait w ith B artholom , 144
Sem iram is Founding a City, 196, 224,
326 n. 199
Siesta in the Salon, 289
S inger in Green, 66, 67
S ix Friends at Dieppe, 196, 197
S u lk in g ( The Banker), 10, 90, 93, 116,
117, 118, 119, 120, 144, 145, 162, 163,
164, 216, 228, 232, 272, 315 n. 74, 315
n. 80
stu d y for, 162
Thrse de Gas, 110, 112, 113
Thrse Morbilli, 49, 93, 110, 111, 113,
114, 115, 116, 137, 145, 306 n. 40, 330
n. 99
Three Dancers, 334 n, 64
Toilette, 143, 274, 275, 310 n. 87
Tub, 291
Two Dancers, 286
Two D ancers C om ing on Stage, 336 n.
104
Two D ancers Seated on a B ench, 330 n.
102
Van d er W eydens H ead o f the Virgin,

copy after, 155, 156
V elzquezs M aids o f H onor, variation
on, 95
View o f Naples, 112, 113
Visit to the M useum , 313 n. 13
W histlers S ym p h o n y in White, No. 3,
copy after, 29, 31
W om an w ith C hrysanthem um s, 28, 49,
62,
212
stu d y for, 48
W oman Drying H er Hair, 143
W oman Ironing, 166, 167, 321 n.
W oman Ironing, Seen against the Light,
83
68
345
Index
Degas, continu ed fro m previous page
W oman Leaving H er Bath, 292, 293
W oman on a Sofa, 280, 281
W oman Pulling on Gloves, 35
W oman W alking in the Street, 257
Woman Washing H er L e ft Leg, 291
W oman Wearing a Violet Dress and
Straw Hat, 260
Young Spartan Girls P rovoking the
Boys, 196, 216, 256, 326 n. 199
stu d y for, 277
Young W oman in a W hite Cotton Dress,
28
Yves Gobillard-M orisot, 92
D elacroix, E ugne, 11, 15, 29, 37, 38, 39,
40, 41, 43, 46, 53, 55-70, 71, 85,
, 87,
121, 122, 141, 146, 147, 148, 194, 308 n.
11, 310 n. 87
Attila Scourging Italy, 57, 59
Baron Schw iter, 70
Battle o f N ancy, sk etch for, 70
Battle o f Poitiers, sketch for, 60, 64, 67,
70
Battle o f Taillebourg, 310 n. 89
B unch o f Flowers in a S tone Vase, 63
Christ on the Sea o f Galilee, 57, 58
C om bat o f the G iaour a n d the Pasha, 57
Comte de M o rn a y s A partm ent, 70, 142,
143
D em osthenes A ddressing the Waves,
310 n.
E ntom bm ent, 57, 58, 70, 312 n. 138
Entry o f the Crusaders into C onstanti
nople, 57, 58
Fanatics o f Tangier, 68, 69
Journal, 69
M ichelangelo in His Studio, 131
M irabeau Protesting to Dreux-Brz, 56,
57,
58
Ovid in Exile a m o n g the Scythians, 57
Piet, 57, 58, 59
R u b en ss M arie de M edici series, copy
after, 70
86
Description o f Egypt, 152

Dtaill, E d o u a rd , 247
D obigny, E m m a, 119
Dor, G ustave, 40, 41, 70
D antes Inferno, illu stratio n s of, 310 n.
97
Dreux, Alfred de, 38
D ru m m o n d , G eorge, 316 n. I l l
D ujardin, E d o u a rd
A ntonia, 188
D um as, A lexandre, 150
M usketeer novels, 320 n. 11
D upr, Jules
S u n set at Sea, 324 n. 155
D urand-R uel, Paul, 54, 82, 118, 198, 301,
310 n. 89, 326 n. 4, 328 n. 35
D uranty, E d m o n d , 9, 51, 52, 56, 73, 74, 76,
82, 119, 128, 144, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164,
182, 186, 202, 221, 227, 230
"D au m ier, 311 n. 107, 311 n. 126
M iddle C lass D raw ing R oom , 222
Mew Painting, 9, 71, 74, 93, 141, 164, 186,
237, 238
On P hysiognom y, 119, 219
"P a in te r L ouis M artin , 163, 199
"S alon of 1870, 319 n. 168
Struggle o f Franoise D uquesnoy, 202
D rer, A lbrecht, 104, 156
Dyck, A nthony van, 15, 294
68
D elsarte, F ranois, 217, 234

Course on Aesthetics, 218
D esboutin, M arcellin, 271
Duranty, 316 n.
86
E a s tla k e , C harles
M aterials fo r a H istory o f Oil Painting,
298
E den, W illiam, 18
E d w ard s, E dw in, 227
Egg, A ugustus
Past a n d Present, No. I, 235, 236
Eishi, C h obunsai
E vening u n d er the M urm uring Pines,
104,
105, 145
E lm o re, Alfred
On the Brink, 235
E p h ru ssi, C harles, 51, 244, 246
E sth er S w o o n in g before A hasuerus, ta p
estry, 141
Etendard, L , 207
346
E tre ta t, 222
Evnem ent, L 203
Eyck, Ja n van, 294
F a lg u i re , A lexandre, 161
F an tin -L ato u r, T hodore, 26, 29, 56, 94,
100, 227, 233
H om age to Delacroix, 29, 56, 146
Two Sisters, 27, 313 n. 12
F aure, Jean -B ap tiste, 118
Fcam p , 222
Fvre, Anne, 250, 251, 334 n. 48
Fvre, Je a n n e , 114, 298
Fvre, M adeleine, 334 n. 48
Fvre, M arguerite, 251
F land rin , H ippolyte, 37
F laub ert, G ustave, 119, 149, 152, 166
S en tim en ta l E ducation, 11
F laxm an, Jo h n , 37
Fleury, C laude, 154
F lorence
B iblioteca M arucelliana, 317 n. 128
G alleria d A rte M oderna, 132
Floris, F rans
Van B erchem Family, 97
F orain, Jean-L ouis, 178, 180, 181, 182
Backstage at the Opera in 1880, 323 n.
126
B ehind the Scenes, 323 n. 126
Client, 324 n. 136
F o rtu n de F o u rn ier, Jean -B ap tiste
In terio r View o f the Tribuna o f the
Uffizi, 92
F rago n ard , Jean -H o n o r, 129
F ran ch o m m e, A uguste, 122
Franck, A dolphe, 159
F rom en tin , E ugne, 38, 41, 56, 70, 71
Fry, Roger, 328 n. 35
G a m m e ll, R. H. Ives, 302

Gas, Achille de, 95
Gas, A uguste de, 313 n. 21, 315 n. 69
Gas, Lucie de, 250, 251, 334 n. 44
Gas, R en-H ilaire de, 96, 215, 313 n. 21
G auguin, Clovis, 263

G auguin, Paul, 11, 144, 193, 194, 195, 242,
262, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268, 269, 271, 335
n. 87, 336 n. 106, 336 n. 108
B ust o f Clovis, 263, 264, 266
Little Parisian, 261, 262
Marie Derrien, 146
Still L ife w ith Peonies, 146
Wooden B ox w ith Carved Reliefs, 267,
268
G autier, T hophile, 122, 149, 150,151, 204,
219
"K ing C an d au les, 150, 152
R o m a n ce o f the M um m y, 138, 152
G av arn i (Sulpice-G uillaum e C hevallier),
38,
77, 175, 311 n. 115, 332 n. 155
G effroy, G ustave, 173
G ricault, T hodore, 38
G rm e, Jean-L on, 39, 71, 89, 151
K in g C andaules Wife, 151
R o m a n Pottery Painter, 73
Tanagra, 73
G ervex, H enri, 161, 196
Gide, A ndr, 189, 191, 193, 199
G iorgione (G iorgio B arbarelli), 107, 295
Fte Champtre, 92
G iotto di B ondone, 338 n. 74
G oeten, M arie van, 244, 245, 248, 333 n. 18
G oethe, Jo h a n n W olfgang von, 218
G ogh, V incent van, 246, 330 n. 104
Pre Tanguy, 146
G onco u rt, E d m o n d de, 76, 100, 161, 166,
170-176, 181, 188, 273, 299
P rostitute Elisa, 173, 204
Z em ganno Brothers, 171, 172, 180, 181
G oncourt, E d m o n d a n d Ju les de, 100,
170, 173, 174, 175, 176, 182, 272
A rt o f the E ighteenth Century, 115, 176
G erm inie Lacerteux, 113
Journal, 174, 175, 176, 178, 219
M anette Salom on, 55, 61, 175
G oupil, Albert, 89
G oya, F ran cisco de, 140, 157, 175
G rap p e, G eorges, 200, 206
G reco, El (D om enikos T hcotocopoulos),
140
G rvin, A lfred, 247
G roult, Cam ille, 115
Index
347
G uerin, Marcel, 225, 227, 330 n. 108

G uillaum in, A rm and, 195
Dr. Martinez in the A rtists Studio, 129
Schoolboy, 257
Guys, C onstantin, 173, 181
H a d e n , Seym our, 330 n. 96

Hainl, Georges, 124
H alvy, Daniel, , 150, 196, 198, 225, 294
Halvy, From ental, 183
Halvy, Jacques, 121
Halvy, Ludovic, 22, 161, 182-188, 192,
196, 247, 267
A bb Constantin, 183, 184
Cardinal Family, 81, 184, 185, 204
Little Cardinals, 324 n. 142
Madame and M onsieur Cardinal, 184,
324 n. 142
Halvy, Ludovic, and H enry M eilhac
Grasshopper, 186-188
Hals, Frans, 94
H ancarville, F. P. H. de
Etruscan, Greek, and R o m a n A ntiqui
ties, 151
H aras du Pin, 117
H arris, John, the Younger, 315 n. 74, 315
n. 76
H arry, J. S., 117
H avem eyer, Louisine
From Sixteen to Sixty, 239, 247
H ayem , M me Charles, 159
H eine, H einrich, 121, 122
H elleu, Paul, 198
H eredia, Jos-M aria, 189
H erodotus of H alicarnassus, 149, 204
History, 150
H erring, Jo h n Frederick, 38, 232, 315 n.
76
Steeple Chase Cracks, 117, 145
H ertel, Mme, 48
Hiller, Ferdinand, 122
H ogarth, W illiam, 75, 234
H arlots Progress, 332 n. 146
R a k e s Progress, 332 n. 146
H olbein, H ans, the Younger, 73, 104, 156,
265
88
Dance o f Death, 156

D arm stadt M adonna, 154, 155, 156
Solothurn Madonna, 154, 155, 156, 320
n. 35
Hollingshead, John
Grasshopper, 19, 36
H om er, 149
Iliad, 37, 42, 45
Odyssey, 37
Hook, Jam es, 232
H unt, H olm an
A w akening Conscience, 234
H ugo, Victor, 149
H uysm ans, Joris-Karl, 11, 67, 161, 165,
170, 176-182,195, 239, 241, 243, 244, 246,
247, 262, 264, 291
Against the Grain, 230
En Menage, 178
Martha, A Girl o f the Streets, 181, 182
Modern Art, 165, 177, 178
Parisian Sketches, 178, 180
H ydropathes, Les, 194
Illustrated London N ew s, 285

Inchbold, John, 232
Ingres, Jean-A uguste-D om inique, 11, 29,
37-55, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 65, 69,70, 71, 85,
, 87,
, 140, 141, 147, 163, 225, 272,
298, 302, 308 n. 11, 309 n. 48, 312 n. 132
Apotheosis o f Homer, 42, 44, 45, 53, 55
study for, 54
Baron de Norvins, 50
Comtesse d Haussonville, 49, 114
E nvoys o f A gam em non, 309 n. 52
Forestier Family, 48
G atteaux Family, 48
Louis-Franqois Bertin, study for, 50, 57
M artyrdom o f St. Sym phorian, 42, 43,
44, 47, 54, 60
study for, 47
M m e Delphine Ingres, 49
M. and M m e Jacques-Louis Leblanc, 54,
86 88
88
Oedipus a n d the Sphinx, 309 n. 52
Pietro Aretino in Tintorettos Studio,
131
348
Portrait o f a Young Woman, 309 n. 38
R aphael a n d the Fornarina, 131
R og er Freeing Angelica, 29, 43, 45, 54,
60
R o m u lu s Victorious over Acron, 47
Stratonice a n d A ntiochus, 46, 47, 151
Valpinqon Bather, 42, 43, 46
Ionides, C o n stan tin e, 18
J a c c a c i, A. F., 326 n. 4, 328 n. 35

Jam o t, Paul, 201
Jean n io t, G eorges, 21, 39, 71, 77, 201, 225,
272, 274, 294, 295, 298
Jour et la Nuit, Le, 135, 273
Journal des Courses, 117, 315 n. 78
K e a ts , Jo h n , 229
K iyonaga, Torii, 28
K rieh u b er, Jo sef
M atine ch ez Liszt, 316 n. 92
L aC az e, Louis, 99, 114

L afond, Paul, 84, 99, 200
La Fosse, C harles de, 314 n. 56
F inding o f Moses, 107, 109
L am othe, Louis, 37
La Tour, M aurice Q u en tin de, 114, 115,
274, 336 n. 19
L avater, Jean -G asp ard , 217, 218, 219, 220,
234
Physiognom ie Fragments, 218
L aw rence, T hom as, 38
L an d re, C harles, 185
L eblanc, Flix,
, 89
L eblanc, F ran o ise Poncelle,
, 89
L eblanc, Jacques-L ouis,
, 89
Le B run, C harles
C haracteristics o f the E m otions, 218,
234
88
88
88
G olden H ours, 232

L em oisne, Paul-A ndr, 200, 211, 220, 249
L eo n ard o d a Vinci, 47, 273, 278, 290, 298,
302, 303, 339 n. 78
Battle o f Anghiari, 302
L ast Supper, 298, 302
L epic, L udovic, 274, 337 n. 41
Lvy, Em ile, 115
Lewis, C harles, 232
Leys, H enrik, 104
Libre Parole, La, 199
Lis, Joseph
Evils o f War, 329 n. 72
Liszt, F ranz, 121, 123
Lives of th e S aints, 149
L om broso, Cesare
C rim inal M an, 220
L ondon
C rem o m e G ardens, 32
D urand-R uel G allery, 16, 29, 30, 32, 192
G aiety T h eatre, 36
M m e T u ssau d s E stab lish m en t, 246,
247
L ouis-Philippe, King, 75, 124
L um ire, A uguste an d Louis, 292
M a illo l, Aristide, 332 n. 7

M aistre, Jo sep h de, 160
M allarm , S tp h an e, 17, 18, 32, 188, 189
191, 192, 193, 195
B allets, 190
M anet, E d o u ard , 10, 11, 15, 29, 37, 38, 56,
85, 87, 100, 123, 128, 144, 150, 156, 157,
160, 161,163, 165, 186, 198, 214, 227, 238,
328 n. 37, 328 n.
Balcony, 157, 330 n. 114
Caf-Concert Singer, 308 n.
Concert in the Tuileries Gardens, 106,
107
68
L econte de Lisle, C harles-M arie-R en,

149
Legros, A lphonse, 222, 227
Finding o f Moses, 314 n. 55

In the Caf, 308 n.
Olympia, 124, 214, 234
Repose, 29
P o e's H istoires extraordinaires, illus

tra tio n s of, 330 n. 95
L eighton, F rederick, 331 n. 136
S panish Dancers, 157

Toilette, 308 n.
W oman in a Tub, 308 n.
349
Index
M antegna, A ndrea, 65, 107, 141, 296
Triumph o f Caesar, 95
Virtues Victorious over the Vices, 69,
297
M antz, Paul, 231, 243, 246, 259
M arcille, E udoxe, 99, 114, 115
M arey, Jules, 293, 294
M artelli, Diego, 131, 132, 339 n. 95
M artineau, R obert
Last Day in the Old H om e, 235
M auclair, Cam ille, 188, 195, 202
City o f Light, 195, 196
M au p assan t, Guy de, 161, 181
Pierre a n d Jean, 161
Tellier E stablishm ent, 161
M auri, R osita, 247
M aurin, N icolas
Celebrated Pianists, 121, 123
M eier-G raefe, Julius, 199
M eilhac, H enry, a n d L udovic H alvy
Grasshopper, 19, 36
M eissonier, E rn est, 38
M em ling, H ans, 294, 338 n. 63
M m orial Catholique, Le, 160
M nil-H ubert, 141, 142, 265, 312 n. 4
M enzel, A dolph, 38, 329 n.
E vening R eunion, 330 n. 97
Interior w ith M enzeVs Sister, 330 n. 97
Supper at the Ball, 38
Thtre G ymnase, 329 n.
M ercure de France, 195
M ichel-Lvy, H enri, 127, 128,129, 145,317
n. 114
Prom enade in a Park, 128
Regattas, 127, 128, 129
Millais, Jo h n E verett, 11, 38, 227, 230, 231,
232, 234
A pple Blossom s, 231, 233
Eve o f St. Agnes, 226, 229, 230, 231, 232,
234, 236
Sw allow ! Sw allow !, 231
88
88
Millet, Jean-F ran o is, 52,

310 n. 77, 312 n. 132
86
, 138, 140,145,
Peasant W om an Seated against a H ay

stack, 138, 139
M irbeau, O ctave, 188, 193, 195
Calvary, 193, 194, 195, 196
G arden o f Tortures, 193

On Artists, 325 n. 183
M onet, C laude, 9,
, 106, 128, 186, 193,
198, 276, 314 n. 52
Dinner, 222, 223, 236
L u n ch eo n on the Grass, 314 n. 54
M o n tau b an , 54, 309 n. 51
M ont-D or, 292
M oore, A lbert, 29
M arble Bench, 232
M usician, 232
M oore, G eorge, 9,18, 19, 53, 165, 166, 168,
199, 284, 301
M orbilli, E d m o n d o , 110
M orbilli, T hrse, 110,114, 137,250, 334 n.
44
M oreau, G ustave, 41, 56, 61, 70, 71, 336 n.
2
M organ, Jo h n P ierp o n t, 328 n. 35
M organd (dealer), 89
M orisot, B erthe, 29,156, 157, 165, 189, 191
Two Sisters on a Sofa, 146
M ottez, V ictor, 298
M usset, Alfred de, 122, 149, 150, 156, 157,
158, 159
"S on of T itian, 159
M uybridge, E ad w eard , 293, 294
86
AIain Jaune, Le, 160

N aples
Castello d e llOvo, 140
N apoleon III, E m p ero r, 75, 76, 174
Nature, La, 294
N epveu-D egas, Jea n , 202
N eunen, 246
N euville, A lphonse de, 247
N ittis, G iuseppe de, 317 n. 128
O ile r, Jo sep h , 117, 315 n. 78

O rch ard so n , W illiam O uiller
First Cloud, 331 n. 120
P a la z z o lo (fo u n d er), 273, 339 n. 89

Palizzi, Filippo, 141, 145
A n im a ls a t a Watering Place, 141, 143
350
P alm a Vecchio (Jaco p o Palm a)
Ariosto, 158, 159
Paris
C af de la N ouvelle-A thnes, 148, 165,
174, 245
Caf de L a R o ch efo u cau ld , 39, 308 n.
11
C af G uerbois, 148, 160, 213, 214, 219,
221, 273
C irque F ern an d o , 171
Collge de F rance, 159
E cole des B eaux-A rts, 52, 67, 82, 218,
282
Ecole M ilitaire, 173
Folies-B ergre, 178, 180
In stitu t de F rance, 40
L ouvre
G ran d e G alerie, 92, 94, 132, 133, 134,
141,
317 n. 134
Pavillon de Sully, 135
R o to n d e de Mars, 135
Salle d u T om beau Lydien, 94, 134,
243
Lyce Louis-le-G rand, 148
M use des A rts D coratifs, 23
M use G rvin, 247, 248
O pra, 121, 122, 124, 176, 183, 184, 185,
192,
244, 245, 247
Palais d u C h am p de M ars, 309 n. 48
P assalacq u a, Jo sep h , 152
Pellegrini, Carlo, 19, 36
Pennell, E lizab eth a n d Jo sep h , 36
P erro n n eau , Jean -B ap tiste, 114, 115, 137,
315 n. 71
M m e M iron de Portioux, 114, 115
P hilipon, C harles, 75
Picot, Franois, 56
Pilet (cellist), 121, 122,123,124, 125, 316 n.
90
P issarro, Cam ille, 9, , 124, 135, 166, 177,
186,195, 262, 271, 274, 276,286, 335 n. 87
Apple Harvest, 256
G athering o f Apples, 256
Place, M m e Jean -H en ri, , 89, 312 n. 144
P lutarch , 149, 204
Poe, E d g ar Allan
Tales o f 1Mystery a n d Im agination, 192
Poisson-Sguin (law yer),
86
88
88
Pope, Alfred A., 326 n. 4

P o rp o ra, Paolo, 310 n. 78
P o u jau d , Paul, 202, 225, 227
Poussin, N icolas, 42, 44, 73, 163, 198, 199
R ape o f the Sabines, 163, 199
Self-Portrait, 101
Prins, Pierre, 225, 227, 330 n. 114
P ro u d h o n , P ierre-Joseph, 204
On Justice, 150
On the Principle o f Art, 150
P roust, M arcel, 188, 196, 198, 199
Cities o f the Plain, 196, 198, 199
Puvis de C havannes, Pierre, 15, 227
R a c in e , Jean -B ap tiste, 147
Raffalli, Jean -F ran o is, 323 n. I l l
R ap h ael (R affaello Sanzio), 43, 44, 47, 73,
92
R ead, Louise, 160
Ralism e, 164
R edon, Odilon, 69, 147
Origins, 268
R edout, Pierre, 100, 145
R gam ey, Flix, 160
R egnault, H en ri, 51
R egnier, H enri de, 189
R e m b ra n d t van R ijn, 94, 175, 176, 178
N ig h t Watch, 176
Syndics o f the Drapers ' Guild, 118
R enoir, Pierre-A uguste, 87, 125, 186, 189,
198, 202, 244, 249, 274, 302, 332 n. 7
A t the In n o f M o th er A nthony, 316 n.
100
Little Schoolboy, 257

M m e Victor Chocquet, 146
Victor Chocquet, 146
Y vonne a n d Christine Lerolle at the
Piano, 146
R eyer, E rn est, 40
R eynolds, Jo sh u a , 295
R ibot, T hodule, 330 n. 96
R ivire, G eorges, 170, 172, 186, 202
Mr. Degas, Bourgeois de Paris, 238
R ivire, H enri, 303
R odin, A uguste, 193, 255, 334 n. 61
Gates o f Hell, 255
Rops, Flicien, 181
R ossetti, D ante G abriel, 105, 106
351
Index
Found, 234
R osso, M edardo, 242, 261
K iss und er the Lam ppost, 261
U nem ployed Singer, 261
R othenstein, W illiam , 18, 175
R othko, M ark, 188
R ouart, Alexis, 292
R ouart, D enis, 271, 274, 283
Degas in Search o f H is Technique, 271
R ouart, E rn est, 191, 192, 296, 297, 298,
299, 339 n. 83
R ouart, H lne, 137, 138, 267, 319 n. 172
R ouart, H enri, 16, 53, 130, 131, 137, 138,
140, 145, 201, 261, 267, 272, 274, 302, 308
n.
R ouart, Louis, 137, 317 n. 125, 318 n. 143
R ouault, G eorges, 42, 148, 270, 302
R ousseau, Je a n -Jac q u e s
C onfessions, 200
R ubens, P eter Paul
Birth o f L ou is X III, 133
R uskin, Jo h n , 19, 20, 21
11
S ain te-B eu v e, C harles-A ugustin, 149,328

n. 63
Saint-Sim on, C lau d e-llen ri, 147
Saint-V alery-sur-Som m e, 292
S and, G eorge, 122, 149, 150, 156, 174, 219
D evils M arsh, 154, 155, 156
Jeanne, 156
Sh e a n d Fie, 159
Scacciati, A ndrea, 310 n. 78
Scey-M ontbeliard, M m e de, 89
S cherer, E d m o n d
"B au d elaire, 320 n. 13
S e b astian o del Piom bo
H oly Family, 295
Severn, Josep h , 232
S eu rat, G eorges
Models, 146
S u n d a y A ftern o o n on the Island o f the
G rande Jatte, 146
S ickert, W alter, 18, 34, 124, 140, 196
S im pson, Jo h n W 36
Sisley, A lfred, 186
Soye, M m e de, 105
S tevens, A lfred, 100, 227
S trau s, M me E m ile, 148, 198
T a in e , H ippolyte, 234, 272

Tait, R obert
Chelsea Interior, 330 n. 101
T anagra, 71, 72, 73, 319 n. 172
Tasset e t L hote (p ictu re fram er), 310 n.
Tasso, T orquato, 149
Temps, Le, 243
T ennyson, Alfred
D ream o f F air W om en, 154
Thiers, A dolphe, 124
Thor, T hophile, 94, 229, 236
T in to retto (Jaco p o R obusti), 107
Tissot, Ja m es Jo sep h Jacq u es, 11, 16, 30,
38, 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 110,
125, 127, 135, 145, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231,
232, 233
Club o f the R u e Royale, 331 n. 122, 331
n, 129
F au st series, 314 n. 55
In the L ouvre: The R otonde de Mars,
135
Interesting Story, 227
Japanese W om an at the Bath, 105
L u n ch eo n on the Grass, 106, 108
N otes on D egass Interior, 225, 226
Parting, 227
Passing Storm , 221, 228
Springtim e, 231
Staircase, 231
Three W om en Sea ted Outdoors, 106
Young W om an H olding Japanese Ob
jects,
T itian (T iziano Vecelli), 158, 159, 294, 338
n. 74
A ssum ption o f the Virgin, 107
T oulouse-L autrec, H en ri de, 195
G o n c o u rts Prostitute Elisa, illu stra
tio n s of, 323 n. 105
Tlirner, Jo sep h M allord W illiam , 198, 295
88
100
U lb a c h , Louis, 214
P u trid L ite ra tu re, 214
Unwin, Mrs. F isher, 18
U tam aro, K itagaw a, 104
352
Degas: The Artists Mind
V alernes, Evariste de, 314 n. 43

Visit to the Notary, 315 n. 80
Valry, Paul, 9, 10, 55, 87, 130, 147, 148,
188, 189, 190, 191-193, 204, 273
Degas Dance Drawing, 193
"E vening w ith M onsieur Teste, 192
Valpingon, E douard, 43
Valpinôn fam ily, 264, 312 n. 4
Valpinôn, H ortense, 264, 266
Valpinôn, Paul, 92, 141, 264
Vanity Fair, 36
Vapereau, G ustave, 214
Velazquez, Diego, 15, 32, 65, 305 n. 3
Drinkers, 124
Maids o f Honor, 95
Vermeer, Jan, 94, 312 n. 10
Veronese, Paolo
Finding o f Moses, 107, 314 n. 56
Vigny, Alfred de, 149, 150, 154, 204
"D aughter of Je p h th a h , 153
Villiers de lIsle-Adam, Philippe-Augustc,
189
Villon, Jacques
Woman and M annequin, 129
Vollard, Ambroise, 193, 278, 299, 321 n. 55,
337 n. 27
Vuillard, E douard, 26, 35
Gentle Art o f M aking Enemies, 22

Golden Screen, 100, 101
H arm ony in Blue and Silver: Trouville,
19, 20
H arm ony in Gray and Green: Miss
Cicely Alexander, 32, 33
H arm ony in Green and Rose: The
M usic Room, 27, 28
Little White Girl, 232
Mrs. Charles Whibley Reading, 35
M usic Room, 222, 223
N octurnes, 20, 21, 23
Reading by Lamplight, 222, 223
Sym phony in White, No. 1: The White
Girl, 28, 233, 234, 236, 307 n. 51
Sym phony in White, No. 3, 29, 31, 232
Ten OClock lecture, 21, 22
Thames Set, 18
Three Figures, 232
Variations in Flesh-Color and Green:
The Balcony, 28
Venice, views of, 23
Wapping, 28
W hittem ore, H arris, 326 n. 4
Wilde, O scar, 20
W ilenski, R. H., 202
Wolff, Albert, 247
W ag rarn , Prince de, 198

W atteau, Jean-A ntoine, 128, 129
Way, Thom as, 36
Weyden, R ogier van der
H ead o f the Virgin, 155
W histler, Jam es A bbott McNeill, 11, 1536, 37, 56,94, 100, 198, 227,230, 232, 233,
234, 244, 314 n. 41
A rrangem ent in Black, No. 5.- Lady
Meux, 16
A rrangem ent in Gray a n d Black, No. 1:
The A rtists Mother, 17
A rrangem ent in Gray and Black, No. 2:
Thomas Carlyle, 24
Arrangem ent in Gray: Self-Portrait, 15,
17
At the Piano, 27, 313 n. 12
Chelsea Shops, 34
Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, 32, 34
Z alew ski, Joseph,

Zandom eneghi, Federigo, 317 n. 128
Zola, Emile, 119, 123, 124, 161, 164-170,
175, 182, 186, 203-215, 219, 247, 272, 327
n. 22, 328 n. 63
Dram-Shop, 166, 170, 187, 214, 322 n. 85
Experim ental Novel, 164
L a d ies Delight, 165, 168, 169, 170, 248
Madeleine, 203
Madeleine Frat, 144, 170, 203, 204, 206,
207, 208, 236, 237, 238
"M arriage of Love, 204
Masterpiece, 165, 166, 328 n. 64
Money, 170
Nana, 214
Naturalist Novelists, 164
Thrse Raquin, 144, 170, 204-215, 219,
221,
236, 237
Thrse Raquin, d ram atic version, 206
122
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D E G A S : The Artists Mind

The Artists Mind

T he Metropolitan Museum of Art

Designed by Peter O ldenburg. Type set by Custom C om posi

LIBRARY OF CONG RESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

fo r Lisa and Jonathan

II. T h ree G re a t D ra ftsm e n "

I n The N ew Painting, a p a m p h le t p u b lish ed in 1876 in d efen se o f R ealist

Degas: The A rtists M ind

even his photographs, reveal such ingenious pictorial strategies and

Degas: The A rtists M ind

cau se tw o o f th em first a p p e ared in the M u seu m s Journal, b u t b ecause

The Butterfly and

.i^ L s far as painting is concerned, W histler assured the young Aus

Degas: The A rtists M ind

A lthough no t very fully d o cu m en ted , th eir respect for each o th e r an d

The B u tterfly a n d the O ld Ox

as a n u n u s u a l g e stu re o f frie n d sh ip , s e n t h is c o lle ag u e p ro o fs o f a

Degas: The A rtists M ind

piercing cries; gesticulating before th e glass case th a t co n tain ed th e wax

The Butterfly and the Old Ox

can em broil m e w ith W histler. 17 T h at th e latter, deeply concerned, h ad

exam ple, are so broadly conceived in large, lu m in o u s areas th a t they

Degas: The A rtists M ind

of the N octu rn es was actually show n to th e co u rt u p sid e d o w n a p p a r

The Butterfly and the Old Ox

4. Degas, A t the Seashore, ca. 1869. Pastel.

Degas: The A rtists M ind

th a t n atu re co n tain s th e elem ents, in color an d form , of all pictures.

The Butterfly and the Old Ox

Degas: The A rtists M ind

are, in a p p e aran c e at least, m ore n a tu ra l im ages, show ing th e ir su b jects

5. W histler, Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 2: Thom as Carlyle,

The Butterfly and the Old Ox

N aturalist novel.36 A ppropriately, the prints show n beside Carlyle are

Degas: The A rtists M ind

7. Degas, The Bellelli Family, 1859-1860. Oil on canvas.

p o rtra it o r bourg eo is in terio r th a t h ad becom e an ad v an ced form of

Degas: The A rtists M ind

a w ork o f 1860 th a t is c o m p arab le to D egass fam ily p o rtra it in its

The Butterfly and the Old Ox

positions inspired by classical scu lp tu re an d the classicizing w ork of

Degas: The A rtists M ind

in L ondon, w as b ro u g h t into closer c o n tact w ith W histler an d his art.

9. Degas, Mile Fiocre in the Ballet from La Source, 1866-1868. Oil on

10. W histler, S y m p h o n y in White, No. 3, 1865-1867. Oil on canvas.

11. Degas, C opy a fte r W h istlers S ym p h o n y in White, No. 3, 1865-1867.

Degas: The A rtists M ind

w ere in fact show n th ere by D urand-R uel as early as 1872,54 tw o years

Degas: The A rtists M ind

c ap tu red the vitality o f th e gaudy colors and lights, th e an im atio n an d

13. W histler, Cremorne Gardens, No. 2, ca. 1875. Oil on canvas.

14. Degas, At the Caf-Concert, 1875-1877. Pastel over monotype.

Degas: The A rtists M ind

appendix: The Caricature of Whistler in

"Three Great Draftsmen

ow ever closely they m ay have resem b led each o th e r in th e ir te m

Degas: The A rtists M ind

fo u r years later, Degas tu rn e d w ith eq u al en th u siasm to D elacroix an d

Three Great D ra ftsm en

w as stro n g er in w orks by these m a ste rstw enty p aintings a n d ninety

Degas: The A rtists M ind

16. Degas, Notes and Im itations of Signatures, 1858. Pencil.

low er right, D elacroixs in th e center, In g re ss above it, an d D aum ier's