Self-Portrait

Edgar Degas|Edgar Degas

by 1857 · Black chalk and graphite, heightened with white on heavy beige wove paper · Drawings and Prints

Degas portrayed his aloof, slightly pouty, patrician features a number of times in the course of his career, particularly as a young man. This early example, executed when the artist was little more than twenty-years old, served as the model for a self-portrait etching he made in 1857, which reproduces the image in reverse. Both the pose and expression seen here relate closely to two nearly contemporaneous painted self-portraits by Degas. The shadowy contrast of light and dark may reflect his interest, at this particular moment of his career, in the work of Rembrandt.

Artist

Edgar Degas|Edgar Degas

Date

by 1857

Medium

Black chalk and graphite, heightened with white on heavy beige wove paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971