Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Edgar Degas - Early Studies for Paintings

Edgar Degas
Study for Young Spartans Exercising
ca. 1859-60
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Young Spartans Exercising
1860
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

"Evidence of Degas' classical education can be seen in his relatively static, friezelike early painting, Young Spartans Exercising (ca. 1860, National Gallery, London), done while he was still in his twenties.  Yet despite the title, and the suggestion of classical drapery on some of the figures in the background, there is little that places the subject of this painting in ancient Greece.  Indeed, it has been noted that the young girls have the snub noses and immature bodies of "Montmartre types," the forerunners of the dancers Degas painted so often throughout his career." 

– Ruth Schenkel, from a biographical essay issued by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004

Edgar Degas
Study for Alexander and Bucephalus
ca. 1859-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Alexander and Bucephalus
1861-62
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Edgar Degas
Studies for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Study for Semiramis building Babylon
ca. 1860-61
drawing, with pastel
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Edgar Degas
Semiramis building Babylon
1861
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris