
Public Domain
by Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas rendered this work in 1859, during his formative years when he was deeply studying the Italian Renaissance masters. The oil on canvas depicts a young woman in a red dress and feathered hat, seated against a dark background that creates dramatic contrast with her luminous figure.
The title indicates Degas created this portrait after seeing a work by Francesco Bacchiacca, a sixteenth-century Florentine painter. Struck by the beauty of the female figure in Bacchiacca's painting, Degas produced his own interpretation. This practice of studying and reinterpreting old masters was essential to his artistic education, years before he would become famous for his Impressionist ballet and racecourse scenes.
Degas used soft, delicate brushstrokes that create a sensation of movement and life. He made several preliminary sketches before the final work, demonstrating the careful preparation that characterized his approach throughout his career.

Camille Corot
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Caspar David Friedrich
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Jean-François Millet
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa

Pierre Bonnard
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ottawa
Other masterpieces from the Impressionism movement

Claude Monet, 1926
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

Claude Monet, 1875
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

James McNeill Whistler, 1871
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Claude Monet, 1899
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Claude Monet, 1872
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
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