Youth in an Attitude of Defense

Edgar Degas

1859–60 · Pencil on buff laid paper · Robert Lehman Collection

This energetic study of a male nude (as well as another drawing by the artist in the Lehman Collection, 1975.1.609) 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.

Artist

Edgar Degas

Date

1859–60

Medium

Pencil on buff laid paper

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975