1867 (ca.), Edgar Degas, Julie Burtey -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: As a young man, Degas had traveled in Italy and enthusiastically copied the masterpieces in the country's museums and churches. The full-length format and the position of the sitter in this work show the explicit influence of Renaissance madonnas and courtly subjects. The form of the chair's backrest reveals the artist's specific reference to Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola from 1514 (Palazzo Pitti, Florence). There is frequently a tension in Degas's work between careful draftsmanship and crude applications of color to render bold shapes and suggestive figuration. He uses his subject's voluminous dress as a pretext to fill his canvas with a massive, almost featureless black pyramid that focuses the viewer's attention on the delicately detailed features of her face. The background is also only sparsely rendered, accomplishing only what is necessary to fulfill the requirements of a completed portrait. The woman represented here is Degas's neighbor Julie Burtey, who was a Parisian dressmaker. Degas seems to amuse himself by using the prestigious genres of aristocratic and saintly portraiture for the image of a humble woman. At the same time, his dedicated efforts to render her likeness accords it a dignity that Degas denied to many of his female subjects.
1867 (ca.), Edgar Degas, Julie Burtey -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label: As a young man, Degas had traveled in Italy and enthusiastically copied the masterpieces in the country's museums and churches. The full-length format and the position of the sitter in this work show the explicit influence of Renaissance madonnas and courtly subjects. The form of the chair's backrest reveals the artist's specific reference to Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola from 1514 (Palazzo Pitti, Florence). There is frequently a tension in Degas's work between careful draftsmanship and crude applications of color to render bold shapes and suggestive figuration. He uses his subject's voluminous dress as a pretext to fill his canvas with a massive, almost featureless black pyramid that focuses the viewer's attention on the delicately detailed features of her face. The background is also only sparsely rendered, accomplishing only what is necessary to fulfill the requirements of a completed portrait. The woman represented here is Degas's neighbor Julie Burtey, who was a Parisian dressmaker. Degas seems to amuse himself by using the prestigious genres of aristocratic and saintly portraiture for the image of a humble woman. At the same time, his dedicated efforts to render her likeness accords it a dignity that Degas denied to many of his female subjects.