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Marguerite De Gas, the Artist's Sister

1860–62
Not on view
This exquisite, intimate portrait of the artist’s sister, Marguerite De Gas, dates from shortly after Degas’s return to Paris following a three-year sojourn in Italy. It demonstrates his increasing sophistication with the medium of etching, which he had begun to explore in earnest while abroad. Portraiture dominated Degas’s practice in this period, and his earliest work in the genre focused naturally on his family members. This is the only extant impression of the second state of the etching and the most successful of the six states he printed. Degas indicated his preference for it by approving the production of a heliogravure (photographic print) based on this impression after he ruined the plate by overworking it.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Marguerite De Gas, the Artist's Sister
  • Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
  • Date: 1860–62
  • Medium: Etching and drypoint; unique impression of the second state of six
  • Dimensions: Plate: 4 9/16 × 3 7/16 in. (11.6 × 8.8 cm)
    Sheet: 5 1/16 × 3 15/16 in. (12.8 × 10 cm)
    Mat: 12 × 9 11/16 in. (30.5 × 24.6 cm)
    Framed: 15 × 12 in. (38.1 × 30.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Charles and Jessie Price, Friends of Drawings and Prints, and Barbara and Howard Fox Gifts, A. Hyatt Mayor Purchase Fund, Marjorie Phelps Starr Bequest, and Charles Z. Offin Fund, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.10
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Huit Sonnets. . .Illustré de dix-nuef dessins inédits de Edgar Degas
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Seated Woman in Bonnet and Shawl, Edgar Degas French, Aquatint, drypoint, and etching; printed from canceled plate
Seated Woman in Bonnet and Shawl
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At the Café des Ambassadeurs, Edgar Degas French, Etching, softground, drypoint, and aquatint; fifth (final) state; canceled plate
At the Café des Ambassadeurs
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1879–80
Greek Landscape, Edgar Degas French, Etching (only state; impression from cancelled plate)
Greek Landscape
Edgar Degas
1856
On Stage III, Edgar Degas French, Softground etching,drypoint, and roulette on wove paper; fourth state of five
On Stage III
Edgar Degas
1876–77

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