Youth with Arms Upraised

Edgar Degas

1859–60 or 1861–62 · Black chalk over pencil on fine beige paper · Robert Lehman Collection

This energetic study of a male nude (as well as another drawing by the artist in the Lehman Collection, 1975.1.610) relate to Degas' Young Spartans Exercising (National Gallery, London), a painting he produced around 1860 and which preoccupied him for several years. Investigating light and contour in the clearly delineated figures, Degas poses his subjects as trials for transfer to canvas. Edgar Degas, Young Spartans Exercising, ca. 1860. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924

Artist

Edgar Degas

Date

1859–60 or 1861–62

Medium

Black chalk over pencil on fine beige paper

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975