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.
Provenance
Studio of the artist (1858 - 1917); Estate of Edgar Degas [1834-1917], Paris (1917-1919); (his fourth sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 2-4, 1919, no. 74b, sold to Nunès) (1919); (Galerie Nunès et Fiquet, Paris) (1919-?); Private collection (after 1919-by 1931); (Victor D. Spark, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (by 1950-1951); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1951-)
Accession Number
1951.430
Medium
graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund