This drawing and another by Degas (MMA 19.51.6), both purchased at the sale of the contents of Degas's studio in 1918, are preparatory studies for an etched portrait of Manet made about 1866–68, a few years after the two painters first met in the Louvre.

Degas portrayed Manet several times: He made a drawing of Manet watching the races at Longchamps (MMA 19.51.8) and a painting that showed him listening to Mme Manet playing the piano. Upon receiving the painting, Manet was dissatisfied with his wife's likeness and cut off her side of the canvas, an act which enraged Degas and soured the artists' friendship.

Marking: RECTO stamped in red ink, lower left: mark of the Degas estate sale (Lugt 658); stamped in ochre ink, lower center: mark of MMA; numbered in red, lower right: 19.51.7; VERSO stamped in red ink, lower right: mark of Degas atelier (Lugt 657); inscribed in blue pencil: Ph 174 [Photo taken by Durand-Ruel]

Paris Ottawa New York 1988, no. 73; Degas Vente II: 210.2

Agnes Mongan, Mary Lee Bennett Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs (1878-1965): given and bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Ex. cat., November 15, 1965-January 15, 1966. Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, 1965, See cat. 56.

Bryson Burroughs "Drawings by Degas" Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. vol. 14, no. 5, New York, May 1919, pp. 115-116, ill.

James Bolivar Manson The Life and Work of Edgar Degas. London, 1927, p. 48.

Walter Mehring European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (A Portfolio of Collotype Reproductions) [Vol. 1: Italian Drawings; Vol. 2: Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings; Vol. 3: Titled "New Series": Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British drawings]. 3 Vols., New York, 1942-1944, also N.S., no. 42., cat. no. 49 (Vol.2), fig. no. 49, ill.

Hans Tietze European Master Drawings in the United States. J. J. Augustin, New York, 1947, cat. no. 143, pp. 286-87., ill.

Daniel Catton Rich Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas. New York, 1951, p. 18, ill.

De David à Toulouse-Lautrec: Chefs-D'Oeuvre des Collections Américaines Exh. cat., Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 20 April - 5 June 1955. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1955, cat. no. 67, fig. no. pl. 61, ill.

Jacob Bean 100 European Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York Graphic Society, New York, 1964, cat. no. 74, fig. no. 74, ill.

Theodore Reff "An Exhibition of Drawings by Degas" Art Quarterly. 3-4, vol. 30, no. 3-4, 1967, fig. no. 1, p. 252, ill.

Jean Sutherland Boggs Drawings by Degas Exh. cat., City Art Museum of Saint Louis, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Society of the Arts. 1967, cat. no. 54, pp. 88-90, 92, ill.

Jacques Fryszman "French Drawings from the Metropolitan Museum at the Louvre" Burlington Magazine. vol. 115, no. 849, London, December 1973, fig. no. 114, p. 834, ill.

Jacob Bean, Linda Boyer Gillies, Cynthia Lambros, Roseline Bacou, Réunion des musées nationaux Dessins français du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York de David à Picasso 54th Exposition de Cabinet des Dessins Musée du Louvre, 25 October, 1973-7 January 1974. Paris, 1973, cat. no. 27, ill.

Ronald Pickvance Degas 1879 Paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture from around 100 years ago in the context of his earlier and later works. Edinburgh, 1979, fig. no. 55, p. 60, ill.

John Canaday "The elegant, exuberant art of Edouard Manet" Smithsonian. 1983, p. 94, ill.

Françoise Cachin, Charles S. Moffett Manet 1832-1883. New York, 1983, fig. no. 3, p. 17, ill.

Sue Welsh Reed, Barbara Stern Shapiro Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker Exh. cat., Boston, Philadelphia, and London. Boston, 1984, cat. no. See 17, fig. no. 17a, pp. 46-47, ill.

Horst Keller Edgar Degas. Munich, 1988, fig. no. 34, p. 46, ill.

Jean Sutherland Boggs, Douglas Druick, Henri Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, Gary Tinterow Degas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, , New York and Ottawa, 1988-89, cat. no. 73, pp. 128-129, ill.

Nicholas Wadley Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawing. Laurence King Publishers, London, 1991, fig. no. 14, p. 110, ill.

Felix Baumann, Marianne Karabelnik, Jean Sutherland Boggs Degas Portraits. Kunsthaus Zurich, London, December 2, 1994- - June 18, 1995, cat. no. 62, pp. 254, 330, 33, ill.

Ann Dumas, Colta Ives, Susan Alyson Stein, Gary Tinterow The Private Collection of Edgar Degas. New York, 1997, fig. no. 368, p. 282, ill.

Christopher Lloyd, Christine Ekelhart Impressionism: Pastels, Watercolors, Drawings. Austrian. Vienna and Cologne, 2012, fig. no. 36, 113, 117, ill.