Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Woman with Field Glasses
Edgar Degas French
Not on view
This arresting oil sketch, which seems to represent the very act of looking itself, is one of several studies of a standing woman gazing through field glasses. Her identity is masked by the glittering lenses of her binoculars, making it likely that Degas meant to integrate the figure into the larger composition of a racing picture rather than portray an individual likeness. This work was a gift to the artist James Tissot.