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A three quarter portrait of a seated man looking left

Shown from the waist up, a bearded, heavy-set man sits with his arms crossed tightly in front of him, looking downward and to the left. On a tan background, dark, textured lines depict his full beard and thick dark hair, as well as the dark vest that he wears over his shirt. White touches highlight his nose and cheeks and accent his shirt collar. The edge of a table cuts across the lower right corner. Across the portrait, a faint grid of lines in charcoal can be seen.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.255
People
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, French (Paris, France 1834 - 1917 Paris, France)
Title
Study for "Diego Martelli"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1879
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/296330

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Prepared black chalk heightened with white chalk, traces of white gouache, on green-gray wove paper, discolored to tan, squared in black chalk
Dimensions
45 x 28.9 cm (17 11/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
frame: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l.: Degas
  • stamp: l.l.: Vente signature stamp [L. 658] in red

Provenance

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

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.255
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • "Degas Drawings: Jacques Seligmann Galleries", Art News (November 1, 1930), vol. XXIX, no. 5, p. 10
  • Lloyd Goodrich, "Degas", The Arts (November 1930), vol. XVII, no. 2, ill. p. 107
  • Fogg Art Museum Handbook, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1931), p. 113, repr.
  • Agnes Mongan, "Portrait Studies by Degas in American Collections", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, May 1932), vol. 1, no. 4, p. 68, repr.
  • [Unidentified article], Art News, ARTnews Associates (New York, NY, May 4, 1935), vol. XXXIII, no. 31, vol. XXXIII, no. 31 (4 May 1935), repr. p. 11
  • Degas, 1834-1917, exh. cat., Pennsylvania Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA, 1936), no. 82, repr.
  • Agnes Mongan and Paul J. Sachs, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1940), vol. 1, cat. no. 673, fig. 349
  • Masterpieces of 19th and 20th Century French Drawing from the Fogg Museum..., brochure, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI, 1941), checklist no. 25
  • Works by Edgar Degas, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, 1947), no. 68, pl. LIV
  • Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Letters, ed. Marcel Guérin, Bruno Cassirer (Oxford, England, 1948), ill. 16
  • Daniel Catton Rich, Edgar-Hilaire-Germain Degas, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1951), pl. 33
  • Henry S. Francis, "Drawings by Degas", The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, December 1957), vol. XLIV, p. 216
  • James Watrous, The Craft of Old-Master Drawings, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI, 1957), pp. 114-115, repr.
  • Peter A. Wick, "Degas Violinist", Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA, 1959), vol. LVII, no. 310, p. 94, fig. 7
  • Jakob Rosenberg, Great Draughtsmen from Pisanello to Picasso, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1959), pp. xxiii and 110; pl. 205
  • Jean Sutherland Boggs, Portraits by Degas, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA, 1962), p. 123
  • Lamberto Vitali, "Three Italian Friends of Degas", The Burlington Magazine (June 1963), CV, pp. 266-273, p. 270, fig. 27
  • Agnes Mongan, Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs [1878-1965]: given and bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1965), cat. no. 60, repr.
  • Carlton Lake, "A Legacy of Masterpieces: Paul Sachs's Gift to the Fogg Museum", Boston (March 1966), vol. 58, no. 3, repr. p. 24
  • Jean Sutherland Boggs, Drawings by Degas, exh. cat., City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis, MO, 1966), p. 142
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz, Drawing, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1967), p. 185, fig. 5
  • Jean Leymarie, Dessins de la période impressionniste de Manet à Renoir, Skira (Geneva, Switzerland, 1969), p. 43, repr. p. 45
  • Jakob Rosenberg, Great Draughtsmen from Pisanello to Picasso [rev. ed.], Harper & Row (New York, NY, 1974), p. 148, pl. 269
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz, A Guide to Drawing, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1976), p. 220
  • Ronald Pickvance, Degas 1879: Paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture from around 100 years ago in the context of his earlier and later works, exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1979), cat. 57, repr.
  • Nathan Goldstein, Painting, visual and technical fundamentals, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979), fig. 1.5, p. 6
  • Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski and Thea Jirat-Wasiutynski, "The Uses of Charcoal in Drawing", Arts Magazine (October 1980), vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 128-135, fig. 6, p. 131
  • Mark M. Johnson, Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism, exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, 1980), p. 59, fig. 73
  • Frederick Malins, Drawing Ideas of the Masters: Artists' Techniques Compared and Contrasted, Phaidon Press (Oxford, England, 1981), p. 31, no. 17
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz and Duane A. Wakeham, Mendelowitz's Guide to Drawing, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1982), p. 235
  • Ray Faulkner and Edwin Ziegfeld, Art Today, an introduction to the fine and functional arts, Henry Holt and Co. (New York, NY, 1986)
  • Dr. Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Artist Within, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 1986), p. 195; fig. 17-21
  • Melissa McQuillan, Impressionist Portraits, Little, Brown & Company (Boston, MA, 1986), repr. p. 152
  • Denis Rouart, Degas in Search of His Technique, Skira Rizzoli (New York, NY, 1988), repr. p. 122
  • Howard J. Smagula, Creative Drawing, Laurence King Publishing Ltd. (London, 2002), pp. 41-42, fig. 1.30
  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Jean Sutherland Boggs, Degas at Harvard, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge and New Haven, 2005), cat. no. 40, fig. 15 (color), pp. 34, 83
  • Catalogue des tableaux, pastels et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier 3e vente, April 7-9, 1919, auct. cat., Galerie Georges Petit (Paris, France, April 7 - April 9, 1919), no. 344a, repr.
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz, David L. Faber, and Duane A. Wakeham, A Guide to Drawing, Thomson Wadsworth (Belmont, CA, 2007), fig. 10-5 (detail of microphotograph), p. 190
  • Deborah Rockman, Drawing Essentials: A Guide to Drawing from Observation, Oxford University Press (NY) (New York, 2009), fig. 2-13, p. 96
  • Louis-Antoine Prat, Le dessin français au XIXe siècle, Somogy Éditions d'Art (Paris, 2011), p. 527
  • Deborah Rockman, Drawing Essentials: A Complete Guide to Drawing, Oxford University Press (NY) (New York, 2017), p. 194, fig. 4-55

Exhibition History

  • Exhibition of Drawings by Degas, Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, 10/27/1930 - 11/15/1930
  • Degas, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/09/1931 - 05/30/1931
  • Drawings by Degas, City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, 01/01/1932 - 12/31/1932
  • Edgar Degas: Paintings, Drawings, Pastels, Sculpture, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, 11/28/1933 - 12/18/1933
  • French Drawings and Prints of the Nineteenth Century, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/21/1934 - 04/28/1934
  • Degas, 1834-1917, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 11/01/1936 - 11/30/1936
  • Great Modern French Drawings, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences Museum, Brooklyn, 01/01/1939 - 03/12/1939
  • Master Drawings: An Exhibition of Drawings from American Museums and Private Collections, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 01/01/1940 - 12/31/1940
  • Great Modern Drawings, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, 04/07/1940 - 05/01/1940
  • Masterpieces of 19th and 20th Century French Drawing from the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University and the Museum of Modern Art of New York City, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 05/01/1941 - 06/01/1941
  • Master Drawings, Fogg Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, 06/01/1943 - 08/31/1943
  • Edgar Degas Bronzes, Drawings, Pastels, Buchholz Gallery, New York, 01/03/1945 - 01/27/1945
  • Drawings by Degas, Farnsworth Art Museum (now Davis Museum and Cultural Center), Wellesley, 02/16/1946 - 03/10/1946
  • Works by Edgar Degas, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 02/05/1947 - 03/09/1947
  • Loan Exhibition of Drawings & Pastels by Edgar Degas, 1834-1917, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, 03/30/1947 - 04/30/1947
  • Drawings from the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University (Collected by Paul J. Sachs), Century Club, New York, 05/12/1947 - 09/25/1947
  • French Drawings from the Fogg Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 03/28/1952 - 04/28/1952
  • De David à Toulouse-Lautrec: chefs d'oeuvre des collections américaines, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 04/20/1955 - 07/05/1955
  • An Exhibition of Drawings, Colby College, Miller Library, Waterville, 04/27/1956 - 05/23/1956
  • An Exhibition of Works by Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas, 1834-1917, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 03/04/1958 - 04/06/1958
  • Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs [1878-1965] Given and Bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 11/15/1965 - 01/15/1966; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 12/19/1966 - 02/26/1967
  • Edgar Degas: the Reluctant Impressionist, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 06/19/1974 - 09/15/1974
  • Degas 1879, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 08/13/1979 - 09/30/1979
  • Degas, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 02/09/1988 - 05/16/1988; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 06/16/1988 - 08/28/1988; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 09/27/1988 - 01/08/1989
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, 03/01/1990 - 04/10/1990; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 04/14/1990 - 05/13/1990
  • Degas: the Portraits, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, 12/02/1994 - 03/05/1995; Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, 03/18/1995 - 06/18/1995
  • Degas at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2005 - 11/27/2005

Verification Level

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