{
"data": {
"id": 128808,
"accession_number": "1951.430",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Sheet of Studies and Sketches, 1858. Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917). Graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper; sheet: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1951.430",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Sheet of Studies and Sketches",
"creation_date": "1858",
"creation_date_earliest": 1858,
"creation_date_latest": 1858,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper",
"support_materials": [
{
"description": "ivory wove paper",
"watermarks": []
}
],
"department": "Drawings",
"collection": "DR - French",
"type": "Drawing",
"measurements": "Sheet: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"sheet": {
"height": 0.304,
"height_inch": 11,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.9375,
"width": 0.235,
"width_inch": 9,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Inscribed, lower left, in graphite: Flor. 1857; stamped, lower left, in red ink: artist\u2019s stamp [Lugt 658]; verso, in red ink: estate stamp [Lugt 657]",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301184,
"title": "Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition",
"description": "Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).",
"opening_date": "1958-03-03T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 302020,
"title": "Aspects of Drawing",
"description": "Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961).",
"opening_date": "1961-01-10T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304645,
"title": "Drawings",
"description": "Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).",
"opening_date": "1963-01-11T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 361386,
"title": "19th and 20th Century Drawings",
"description": "19th and 20th Century Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 24, 1965).",
"opening_date": "1965-02-19T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 304726,
"title": "French Drawings",
"description": "French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966).",
"opening_date": "1965-11-16T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 361395,
"title": "Ingres & Delacroix through Degas & Puvis de Chavannes: The Figure in French Art, 1800\u20131870",
"description": "Ingres & Delacroix through Degas & Puvis de Chavannes: The Figure in French Art, 1800\u20131870. Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (May 20-June 28, 1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-05-20T04:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309584,
"title": "Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983).",
"opening_date": "1982-11-16T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309654,
"title": "The Lessons of the Academy",
"description": "The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983).",
"opening_date": "1983-02-08T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 338947,
"title": "The Private Degas",
"description": "The Private Degas. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-February 28, 1987); Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge CB2 1RB (March 17-May 3, 1987).",
"opening_date": "1987-01-20T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311433,
"title": "Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988",
"description": "Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).",
"opening_date": "1991-04-02T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 311635,
"title": "French Drawings from the Collection",
"description": "French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).",
"opening_date": "1994-12-13T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 192019,
"title": "Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2000-08-27T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 204986,
"title": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).",
"opening_date": "2014-03-09T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 295862,
"title": "Degas: A Passion for Perfection",
"description": "Degas: A Passion for Perfection. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (organizer) (February 11-May 20, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2018-02-11T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 324628,
"title": "Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).",
"opening_date": "2023-01-19T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Studio of the artist",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1858 - 1917",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Estate of Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Paris",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"Lugt 658, lower left, in red ink; Lugt 657, verso, upper center, in red ink.
"
],
"date": "1917-1919",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(his fourth sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 2-4, 1919, no. 74b, sold to Nun\u00e8s)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"As \"T\u00eate de femme. -- T\u00eate d'homme. -- Lutteurs. -- Cavalier,\" for 2,000 F.
"
],
"date": "1919",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Galerie Nun\u00e8s et Fiquet, Paris)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1919-?",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "Private collection",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "after 1919-by 1931",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "(Victor D. Spark, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "by 1950-1951",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1951-",
"sortorder": 7
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The date Degas wrote on this drawing is incorrect; he didn't visit Florence until 1858, and must have inscribed the sheet years later.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Degas traveled to Florence, Italy, in July 1858, where he made this sheet of studies. The featured imagery is fragmented and dissociated, suggesting the young artist's engagement with art of the past. The refined female head drawn at center in graphite was copied from a drawing then attributed to Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Gallery's collection. Other sketches record Degas's responses to Florentine sculpture. At upper right, he sketched an informal portrait of his cousin Giulia Bellelli, probably from life.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60781314"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1951.430-sheet-of-studies-and"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Catalogue des tableaux, pastels et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, 1919.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 70, no. 74b",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "George, Waldemar. \"The Youth of Degas.\" Formes 15 (May 1931).",
"page_number": "Reproduced: after p. 76",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Graber, Hans. Edgar Degas: Nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen. Basel: Benno Schwabe, 1942.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 246, Reproduced: opp. p. 20.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Henry S. Francis. \"Drawings by Degas.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 10 (December 1957): 212-217",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 213; Reproduced: p. 210",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142248"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 601",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n112"
},
{
"citation": "Vitali, Lamberto. \u201cThree Italian Friends of Degas.\u201d Burlington Magazine 105, no. 723 (June 1963): 266-73.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 266 n. 4, 269 n. 6",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Reymert, Martin L. H. and Gary Koehler. Ingres & Delacroix through Degas & Puvis de Chavannes: The Figure in French Art, 1800\u20131870. Exh. cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1975.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: cover, pp. 317-18, no. 134",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Russoli, Franco. L\u2019Opera completa di Degas. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: pp. 86-87, no. 17",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Thomson, Richard. The Private Degas. Exh. cat. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1987.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 15-17, 51, 138, no. 10; Reproduced: plate 65.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 132-33, p. 290; Reproduced: p. 133",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lemonedes, Heather. \u201cA Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-01"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 16",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Reff, Theodore. The Letters of Edgar Degas. New York: Wildenstein Plattner, 2020.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 114 n. 3.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Salsbury, Britany. \u201cNineteenth-Century French Drawings: The widely recognized collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 62, no. 4 (December 2022): Cover, 18-19.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 18.",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2022-04/page/18/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Salsbury, Britany. Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 2, fig. 2",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Mayhew, Timothy David. \"Traditional 19th-Century French Graphite Drawing Materials and Techniques.\" In Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 43-51. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 48-49, fig. 28",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Salsbury, Britany. Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 98-99, no. 10",
"url": ""
}
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
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"athena_id": 128808,
"creators": [
{
"id": 1759,
"description": "Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917)",
"extent": null,
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"biography": "Son of a Parisian banker, Edgar Degas enrolled in law school in 1853 following his father's wishes. But he had already shown an interest in art and had also registered to copy at the Louvre. In 1855 he entered the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts and became a student of Louis Lamothe (1822-1869), a former pupil of Ingres (q.v.). One year later Degas made the traditional journey to Italy, remaining there for three years. He visited family members in Naples and Florence and attended life classes at the Villa Medici in Rome. A visit to Normandy in 1861 may have introduced him to the racetrack. In Paris he continued to study at the Louvre, where he met Manet (q.v.) in 1862. Apart from his continuous interest in portraiture and history painting, Degas began to pay attention to subjects of modern life. Between 1865 and 1870, he exhibited at the Salon. At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, he enlisted in the artillery, but because of his poor eyesight he served (with Manet) in the infantry. After the war he traveled first to London and, in 1872-73, visited his uncle and brothers who had a cotton business in New Orleans. Degas participated in the first impressionist exhibition of 1874. He continued to exhibit with these artists until 1886 but never completely considered himself a member of the group, preferring to call himself a realist or naturalist. While many of the impressionists painted en plein air, Degas worked with models in his studio and, later in his career, from his imagination. In addition to painting, he experimented often with monotypes, engraving, pastels, sculpture, and photography. He traveled extensively-London, Naples, Spain, Morocco, and Switzerland-but continued to draw his subject matter from modern-day Paris. Other recurring themes would be the female nude and the ballet dancer. After the impressionist exhibition of 1886, Degas no longer participated in group shows. Instead he sold his works to private dealers such as Durand-Ruel and Ambroise Vollard. In the 1890s he began his own art collection, which, besides many works on paper, included paintings by such artists as Ingres, C\u00e9zanne (q.v.), Delacroix (q.v.), Gauguin (q.v.), and van Gogh (q.v.). His own art at the time became characterized by broader strokes of paint, charcoal, and pastel and the use of more vibrant colors, partly because of problems with his vision. His failing eyesight and poor health caused him to abandon his pursuit of art during the last years of his life.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1834",
"death_year": "1917",
"use_in_caption": true,
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"weight": 1
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],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1951-11-15T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1858,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1858",
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"is_nazi_era_provenance": true,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Sheet of Sketches"
],
"is_highlight": true,
"updated_at": "2026-08-01 11:36:36.051000"
}
}