Beschreibung:

EDGAR DEGAS Etude d'après La Sibylle de Delphe (recto); and Académie de Femme (verso) . Pencil with white gouache heightening (verso), double-sided, circa 1855-56. 305x247 mm; 12x9 3/4 inches. Ex-collection Lee V. Eastman, New York; sold Christie's, New York, March, 1 2006, lot 31. Professor Theodore Reff, New York, has stated that in his opinion this drawing is by Edgar Degas While Degas (1834-1917) is often associated with Impressionism, his now famous renditions of Parisian demimonde characters, ballet dancers and bathers were heavily influenced by his early technical training, which focused on sketching from Italian Renaissance masters. Born to a wealthy banking family, Degas was educated in one of the most rigorous and prestigious schools in Paris, the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he studied the classics. His father recognized Degas' ability to draw at an early age and prompted him toward an artistic profession, taking him to the great museums of Paris to copy the Renaissance masters. In the late 1850s, Degas made several sojourns to Italy to sketch. He became deeply engrossed in rendering the static human forms of early Renaissance frescos and, though he later dropped this academic style, the initial training copying old masters is apparent in his approach to the figure. This exquisitely rendered, double-sided work was drawn during one of his visits to Rome--one side depicts a study of the Delphic Sybil from Michelangelo's famed frescos in the Sistine Chapel. In this study, Degas paid careful attention to the contours of the elegant and powerful arms of the Sybil, leaving her face and drapery subtly addressed by comparison. The other side of the sheet represents an academic drawing of a woman, perhaps rendered from life, and similarly focuses on the curved outlines of the torso. As Degas' artistic practice progressed, his use of strong contours to outline the body, all the while leaving faces more obscure, became a hallmark of his style. Degas continued to be influenced by various artistic traditions throughout his career, ranging from 16th-century Italian Mannerism to traditional Japanese Ukioy-e woodcuts.