Degas made this highly finished pastel as a preparatory study for a portrait of Yves Gobillard, eldest sister of artist Berthe Morisot. His virtuosic ability with chalks is evident in his depiction of Yves’s face: her slightly upturned nose, the deep creases on either side of her mouth, and her bright eyes, set against pale, luminous skin. The sitter’s mother described this picture as "a very pretty thing, and [drawn] with great skill." In the final portrait, also in the Museum’s collection (29.100.45), Degas adopted a sketchier, less detailed approach to rendering Yves’s distinctive features.
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Title:Madame Théodore Gobillard (Yves Morisot)
Artist:Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date:1869
Medium:Pastel
Dimensions:18 7/8 × 11 13/16 in. (48 × 30 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Joan Whitney Payson, 1975
Accession Number:1976.201.8
Signature: Lower right: Degas
Berthe Morisot (French); Mlle Paule Gobillard-Morisot; Jeanne Gobillard; Joan Whitney Payson New York
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas in the Metropolitan," February 26–September 4, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Degas," September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 29–October 21, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Manet / Degas," September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024.
MMA 1988. 90; Lemoisne 1946, no. 214
Marie-Cornélie Morisot Letter. [published in Ref. Rouart 1957, p. 36].
Paul Lafond Degas. Librairie Floury H. Floury, 1, Paris, 1918, ill. p. 49.
Camille Mauclair Degas. William Heinemann, London, [1937], p. 166, pl. 66.
Paul-André Lemoisne Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols + Suppl, Paris, 1946-1949, vol. 1, pp. 57–58; vol. 2, pp. 110–11, no. 214, ill., cat. no. 214, ill.
Denis Rouart, Betty W. Hubbard The Correspondence of Berthe Morisot. G. Wittenborn George Wittenborn, New York, 1957, p. 36.
Agathe Rouart-Valéry "Art News" Degas in the Circle of Paul Valéry. 59, November 1960, p. 62, fig. 2.
Jean Sutherland Boggs Portraits by Degas. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1962, fig. no. 62, pp. 27, 61, ill.
Louise Burroughs "Degas Paints a Portrait." in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 21, no. 5, New York, January 1963, fig. no. 1, pp. 170, 172.
Eugenia Parry Janis "Burlington Magazine" The Role of the Monotype in the Working Method of Degas—I. 109, January 1967.
Fiorella Minervino L'opera completa di Degas. Rizzoli, Milan, 1970, p. 97, no. 250, ill.
Charles S. Moffett Degas in the Metropolitan. Ex. cat., February 26-September 4, 1977: a complete checklist of works by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1977, cat. no. 9, ill.
Jacob Bean Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1975-1979: Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, p. 57, ill.
Charles S. Moffett Degas: Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, pp. 8–9, colorpl. 6.
Françoise Cachin, Françoise Cachin, Charles S. Moffett, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Manet, 1832–1883. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, p. 493 [French ed., Paris, 1983].
Roy McMullen Degas: His Life, Times, and Work. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984, p. 182.
Götz Adriani, Kunsthalle Tübingen Degas: Pastels, Oil Sketches, Drawings. Abbeville Press, English ed. [German ed., 1984]. New York, 1985, pp. 39, 106 n. 114, ill. p. 356.
Charles S. Moffett, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1985, pp. 11, 60–62, 250, ill. (color).
Gary Tinterow The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1984–1985. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, p. 30.
Charles F. Stuckey, Charles F. Stuckey, William P. Scott, National Gallery of Art National Gallery of Art, Washington Berthe Morisot, Impressionist. Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1987, p. 28, fig. 18.
Henri Loyrette, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris Degas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988.
Jean Sutherland Boggs, Douglas Druick, Henri Loyrette, Michael Pantazzi, Gary Tinterow Degas. Ex. cat.: Paris, Ottawa, MMA, 1988-1989. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, National Museums of Canada, New York and Ottawa, 1988-89, cat. no. 90, pp. 152-153, ill.
Richard Thomson "Burlington Magazine" The Degas Exhibition at the Grand Palais. 130, April 1988.
Jean Sutherland Boggs, Anne Maheux Degas Pastels. George Braziller, New York, 1992, p. 180.
Jean Sutherland Boggs, Kunsthaus Zürich Degas Portraits. Merrell Holberton, London, 1994, pp. 24, 89–90 [German ed., "Degas Die Portraits"].
Gary Tinterow, Henri Loyrette, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Origins of Impressionism. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, p. 324, fig. 394.
Henri Loyrette, National Gallery of Victoria Degas: A New Vision. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2016, p. 52.
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