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Source 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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
128808
label
Sheet of Studies and Sketches
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
128808
contentType
drawing
title
Sheet of Studies and Sketches
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.
date
1858
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60781314
creators
1759
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 30.4 x 23.5 cm (11 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1951.43
Source extras
tec
graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper
tombstone
Sheet of Studies and Sketches, 1858. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). 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
supportMaterials
description
ivory wove paper
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
Inscribed, lower left, in graphite: Flor. 1857; stamped, lower left, in red ink: artist’s stamp [Lugt 658]; verso, in red ink: estate stamp [Lugt 657]
didYouKnow
The date Degas wrote on this drawing is incorrect; he didn't visit Florence until 1858, and must have inscribed the sheet years later.
citations
citation
<em>Catalogue des tableaux, pastels et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier</em>. Paris: Galerie Georges Petit, 1919.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 70, no. 74b
citation
George, Waldemar. "The Youth of Degas." <em>Formes</em> 15 (May 1931).
page_number
Reproduced: after p. 76
citation
Graber, Hans. <em>Edgar Degas: Nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen</em>. Basel: Benno Schwabe, 1942.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 246, Reproduced: opp. p. 20.
citation
Henry S. Francis. "Drawings by Degas." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 44, no. 10 (December 1957): 212-217
page_number
Mentioned: p. 213; Reproduced: p. 210
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 601
citation
Vitali, Lamberto. “Three Italian Friends of Degas.” <em>Burlington Magazine</em> 105, no. 723 (June 1963): 266-73.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 266 n. 4, 269 n. 6
citation
Reymert, Martin L. H. and Gary Koehler. <em>Ingres & Delacroix through Degas & Puvis de Chavannes: The Figure in French Art, 1800–1870</em>. Exh. cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: cover, pp. 317-18, no. 134
citation
Russoli, Franco. <em>L’Opera completa di Degas</em>. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 86-87, no. 17
citation
Thomson, Richard. <em>The Private Degas</em>. Exh. cat. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1987.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 15-17, 51, 138, no. 10; Reproduced: plate 65.
citation
DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster.<em> Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 8, pp. 132-33, p. 290; Reproduced: p. 133
citation
“A Walking Tour: The entire new museum wing by wing, with curators calling out a few favorite works in the collection.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 54, no. 1 (January/February 2014): 8-33.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 16
citation
Reff, Theodore. <em>The Letters of Edgar Degas</em>. New York: Wildenstein Plattner, 2020.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 114 n. 3.
citation
Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The widely recognized collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>vol. 62, no. 4 (December 2022): Cover, 18-19.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 18.
citation
Salsbury, Britany. <em>Degas and the Laundress: Women, Work, and Impressionism</em> Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 2, fig. 2
citation
Mayhew, Timothy David. "Traditional 19th-Century French Graphite Drawing Materials and Techniques." In <em>Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art, </em>43-51. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 48-49, fig. 28
citation
Salsbury, Britany. <em>Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 98-99, no. 10
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:39:08.538000
sourceId
128808
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
graphite, pen and dark brown ink, and watercolor on thick ivory wove paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
7bc1f667bb2dc476