Auguste Degas
c. 1859
Medium
Graphite, with touches of stumping, on buff laid paper with red and brown inclusions
Dimensions
33.9 × 25.9 cm (13 3/8 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
prints and drawing
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
185849
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Family portraits dominated Edgar Degas’s output in the 1850s. Before his departure for Italy in 1856 (and again, on his return in 1859), he depicted his brothers and sisters; during his time abroad he turned his attention to his grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Although Degas lived in the family house for the spring and summer of 1859, this is the only known formal portrait of his father from those early years. Stylistically, the work owes much to the restrained draftsmanship of Ingres, ...
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings collection of the Art Institute of resides a poignant early work by Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas *Auguste Degas* (c. 1859). This intimate graphite drawing on buff laid paper captures Degas's relative—likely his brother Auguste—in a moment of quiet contemplation. Measuring 33.9 × 25.9 cm, it exemplifies the young artist's (then in his mid-20s) emerging prowess during his formative years in Paris, before his full immersion in Impressionism. Degas employs graphite with delicate touches of stumping—a technique using a soft tool to blend tones for subtle gradations and soft modeling. The buff laid paper, with its characteristic red and brown inclusions, adds warmth and texture, enhancing the drawing's lifelike quality. This meticulous approach reflects Degas's academic training under masters like Ingres, emphasizing precise linework and tonal subtlety over bold color. As one of Degas's earliest preserved portraits, it holds historical significance as a window into his family life and technical evolution. Far from the ballet scenes he later championed, this piece reveals a tender, personal side, bridging classical draftsmanship with the modernity that would define his legacy. Visitors will appreciate its quiet elegance, a testament to drawing's enduring power.
About the Artist
Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas · 1834–1917
Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, born on July 19, 1834, in Paris to a prosperous banking family, was the eldest of five children. His mother, Célestine Musson, a Creole from New Orleans whose father Germain Musson had roots in Haiti, died when Degas was thirteen, leaving his father Augustin and unmarried uncles to guide him. Educated at the elite Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he earned a baccalauréat in...