"catalogue right frame"

Self-Portrait
Oil on paper, laid down on canvas
16 x 13 1/2 in. (40.6 x 34.3 cm)
Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 (61.101.6)

As a young artist, Degas learned about past artistic styles by copying great works of art in the Louvre in Paris. One of his favorite artists was Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, whose skill as a draftsman and portraitist distinguished him as one of the most influential painters of the nineteenth century. Degas's appreciation of the importance of drawing is evident in the numerous studies that were an integral part of his finished works. His interest in portraiture is reflected in the numerous portraits he produced during the 1860s.

In this self-portrait, one of several he executed during the 1850s, Degas poses against a neutral background; his figure is the sole focus of the work. The volume of the figure's facial structure, the somber tones, and the traditional pose, all reflect Degas's serious study of the great masters of portraiture, such as Ingres and the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Photograph Credits