{
"data": {
"id": 135238,
"accession_number": "1958.25",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Paul Lafond and Alphonse Cherfils Examining a Painting, c. 1878\u201380. Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917). Oil on wood panel; framed: 42.5 x 50 x 6 cm (16 3/4 x 19 11/16 x 2 3/8 in.); unframed: 27 x 34 cm (10 5/8 x 13 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr., 1958.25",
"current_location": "222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism",
"title": "Paul Lafond and Alphonse Cherfils Examining a Painting",
"creation_date": "c. 1878\u201380",
"creation_date_earliest": 1873,
"creation_date_latest": 1885,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"France, 19th century"
],
"technique": "oil on wood panel",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Modern European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 42.5 x 50 x 6 cm (16 3/4 x 19 11/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 27 x 34 cm (10 5/8 x 13 3/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.425,
"width": 0.5,
"depth": 0.06
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.27,
"width": 0.34
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Signed in upper left: Degas / a [sic] ses chers amis\r\n\r\n",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"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": 216847,
"title": "Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections",
"description": "Faces of Impressionism: Portraits from American Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 28-July 30, 2000).",
"opening_date": "1999-10-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 224301,
"title": "Edgar Degas and the Italians in Paris",
"description": "Edgar Degas and the Italians in Paris. Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara (Galleria d'Arte Moderna et Contemporanea) (September 14-November 16, 2003); Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland (December 12, 2003-February 29, 2004).",
"opening_date": "2003-09-14T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 282768,
"title": "Degas and Rodin - Giants of Modernism",
"description": "Degas and Rodin - Giants of Modernism. Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany (organizer) (October 25, 2016-February 26, 2017).",
"opening_date": "2016-10-25T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Exposition Degas. Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France (1924).",
"opening_date": "1924-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Degas-Portraitiste Sculpteur. Mus\u00e9e de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (1931).",
"opening_date": "1931-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Alphonse Cherfils, Pau, France, by descent to his son, Christian Cherfils",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"description": "Christian Cherfils, Pau, France",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Marcel Gu\u00e9rin [1873-1948], Paris, France",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY, January 10, 1950, sold to Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1950",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "Leonard C. Hannah [1889-1957], Cleveland, OH, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1950-1958",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1958-",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The gentlemen in this painting had close relationships with many Parisian artists and would go directly to their studios to purchase works that they wanted to exhibit or sell.",
"description": "The upper left corner of this painting bears a dedication by Degas \"to his dear friends.\" The double portrait depicts Paul Lafond (left), future curator of the art museum at Pau, in southwestern France, and Alphonse Cherfils (right), an art collector and defender of the Impressionists. Through the influence of these friends, Degas's works were selected for the annual exhibitions of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Amis des Arts (Society of Friends of the Arts), and his painting, A Cotton Office (1873), was the first by the artist to be purchased by a museum. Since the painting held by the two men is probably by Degas, this intimate image commemorates both personal and business relationships.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60517762"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1958.25-paul-lafond-and-alph"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Lafond, Paul. Degas. Paris, FR: H. Floury, 1918.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: opp. title cover, vol. 2",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Lemoisne, Paul-Andre\u0301. Degas et son \u0153uvre. Paris. FR: P. Brame et C.M. de Hauke, aux Arts et me\u0301tiers graphiques, 1947.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 647; vol 2",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 11",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Francis, Henry S. \"Report for the Year 1958: Painting Department.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art XXXXVI, no. 6 (June, 1959): 111-122.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 22",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Boggs, Jean Sutherland. Portraits by Degas. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1962.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 94, no. 2",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Parry, Eugenia. Degas Monotypes; Essay, Catalogue & Checklist. Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; distributed by New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn, 1968.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: under no. 53",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Russoli, Franco and Fiorella Minervino. L'opera completa di Degas. Milano: IT Rizzoli, 1970.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 580",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Reff, Theodore. Degas: The Artist's Mind. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 85-86",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Nathanson, Carol and Edward Olszewski. \"Degas's Angel of The Apocalypse.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art LXVII, no. 10 (October, 1980): 243-255.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 252, fig. 21; Mentioned: p. 251",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Brettell, Richard R., and Suzanne Folds McCullagh. Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 1984.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 84",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sutton, Denys. Edgar Degas, Life and Work. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 1986.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 283",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Kendall, Richard. Degas by Himself: Drawings, Prints, Paintings, Writings. London, UK: Macdonald Orbis, 1987.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 134",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Thomson, Richard, and Edgar Degas. The Private Degas. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1987.",
"page_number": "Referenced: cat. no. 59, p. 54, 140, Reproduced",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sutton, Denys, and Jean Adm\u00e9mar. \u201cLettres In\u00e9dites De Degas \u00c1 Paul Lafond Et Autres Documents.\u201d Gazette Des Beaux Arts 109, no. 129 (April 1987): 159\u201380.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 160",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Brown, Marilyn R. \u201cDegas and a Cotton Office in New Orleans.\u201d Burlington Magazine 130 (March 1988): 216\u201321.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 219, fig. 38",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 58",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Brown, Marilyn. Degas and the Business of Art: A Cotton Office in New Orleans. University Park, PA: Published for College Art Association by the Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 109, fig. 31",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ives, Colta Feller, Susan Alyson Stein, and Julie A. Steiner. The Private Collection of Edgar Degas: A Summary Catalogue. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 169; Reproduced: p. 170",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Feigenbaum, Gail, and Jean Sutherland Boggs. Degas and New Orleans: A French Impressionist in America. New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 59, fig. 45",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "D' Argencourt, Louise, and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 1, p. 78",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Dumas, Ann. Degas e gli italiani a Parigi: Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, 14 settembre-16 novembre 2003. Ferrara, IT: Ferrara arte, 2003.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 222-223; Reproduced: no. 13",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Pingeot, Anne. \"Rodin 1840-1917 und Degas (Bildhauer) 1834-1917: Umgang mit der Kunstkritik.\" In Degas - Rodin: Wettlauf der Giganten der Moderne. Gerhard Finckh, ed., 263-283. Wuppertal : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2016.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 269",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1958.25",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1958.25/1958.25_web.jpg",
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"filesize": "677044",
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"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1958.25/1958.25_print.jpg",
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"full": {
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},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Gallery",
"athena_id": 135238,
"creators": [
{
"id": 1759,
"description": "Edgar Degas (French, 1834\u20131917)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"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,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1958-11-29T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1873,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1878\u201380",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:03:08.957000"
}
}