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| Edgar Degas Study of Bust of Jupiter ca. 1854-56 oil on card Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study of Oenochoe in shape of Youth's Head ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Roman Centurion ca. 1853-55 drawing Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts |
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| Edgar Degas Borghese Gladiator ca. 1853-56 drawing Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts |
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| Edgar Degas Artemis from the Parthenon Pediment ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study of Draped Sculpture ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Studies from Antique Sculpture ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study of the Discobolus ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas after Marcantonio Raimondi Study after Massacre of the Innocents ca. 1854-56 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study of Woman holding her Throat ca. 1856-59 drawing, with watercolor Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study after St Sebastian ca. 1856-59 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Académie ca. 1856-58 drawing Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Edgar Degas Académie 1858 drawing (misdated on the sheet) Art Institute of Chicago |
"Degas was born in 1834, the scion of a wealthy banking family, and was educated in the classics, including Latin, Greek, and ancient history, at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. His father recognized his son's artistic gifts early and encouraged his efforts at drawing by taking him frequently to Paris museums. Degas began by copying Italian Renaissance paintings at the Louvre and trained in the studio of Louis Lamothe, who taught in the traditional academic style, with its emphasis on line and its insistence on the crucial importance of draftsmanship. Degas was also strongly influenced by the paintings and frescoes he saw during several long trips to Italy in the late 1850s; he made many sketches and drawings of them in his notebooks."
– Ruth Schenkel, from a biographical essay issued by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004
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| Edgar Degas Study for The Bellelli Family (La Baronne Laura Bellelli and Daughters) ca. 1858-59 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| Edgar Degas Study for The Bellelli Family (Le Baron Gennaro Bellelli) ca. 1858-59 drawing Musée d'Orsay, Paris |