Ecorché: Right Arm and Shoulder Blade with Right Hand Intact

This is the only known écorché, or flayed anatomical study, by Degas to survive. Executed on a large sheet, the drawing likely dates from the artist’s stay in Rome, as inscribed, when he produced many academic studies from nude models. This scientific exercise demonstrates the foundation of Degas’s lifelong study of the human form. The subtly modeled hand, which appears to rest casually with fingers wrapped around and draped over a support, brings a lifelike quality to the severed limb. This animated character is also found in écorchés by Eugène Delacroix, two of which Degas’s later owned (2005.247 and 2008.542).