Portrait of Edgar Degas, wearing a hat
Medium
Drypoint; first state of two
Dimensions
Sheet: 15 3/8 × 10 9/16 in. (39 × 26.8 cm) Plate: 8 7/8 × 5 11/16 in. (22.6 × 14.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, 1998
Accession Number
1998.256
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 19th-century Paris with *Portrait of Edgar Degas, Wearing Hat* (1876), a masterful drypoint etching by Marcellin Desbout, with possible involvement from his subject, the renowned Impressionist Edgar Degas. This first proof— an early, unrevised impression from a plate just 8 7/8 × 5 11/16 inches—captures Degas a casual yet commanding pose, hat tilted jauntily, evoking the bohemian camaraderie of the French art scene. Drypoint, Desboutin's chosen medium, involves scratching directly into a copper plate with a sharp needle, raising a soft burr that yields velvety,...
About the Artist
Marcellin Desboutin|Edgar Degas · 1823–1902
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