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Italienne (Gaëta)

A work made of graphite, with stumping, on blue wove paper with blue fibers, perimeter-mounted on cream wove paper wrapped around millboard (touch of red chalk).
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of graphite, with stumping, on blue wove paper with blue fibers, perimeter-mounted on cream wove paper wrapped around millboard (touch of red chalk).

Date:

1856/57

Artist:

Edgar Degas
French, 1834–1917

About this artwork

The young woman who posed for this study probably came from Mola di Gaëta, now known as Formia, a small town in southern Italy. Her heavy dress, with its wide, embroidered sleeves, was typical of the locals. Degas traveled considerably in the vicinity of Rome and Naples in about 1856–59 while, under the sponsorship of the French state, he was a resident at the Villa Medici. Artists slightly senior to Degas had made their name with this kind of imagery, as rural Italian subjects were popular with buyers back in Paris. Although Degas claimed that he was “not mad about this wellknown Italian picturesque,” this drawing shows he was still keen to try the genre.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas

Title

Italienne (Gaëta)

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1856–1857

Medium

Graphite, with stumping, on blue wove paper with blue fibers, perimeter-mounted on cream wove paper wrapped around millboard (touch of red chalk)

Inscriptions

Inscribed recto, upper right, in graphite: "Mola di Gaëta"; center, right of figure, in graphite: "Roma"; lower right, in graphite: "ph 2349";verso, upper left, in graphite: "ph 2349/2"; lower right, in graphite: "41 x 56"

Dimensions

45.6 × 31 cm (18 × 12 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

Reference Number

2013.921

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/185806/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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