1862, Edgar Degas, Young Woman with Ibis -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Degas made sketches of this composition during his second stay in Rome, in 1857-58, where he befriended the painter Gustave Moreau. Originally conceived as a depiction of a pensive woman, the picture became layered with theatrical and mythological overtones in a reworking of 1860-62, when Degas added the imaginary Middle Eastern cityscape, the pink flowers, and the two red ibis. He also considered adding the brilliant birds to his large history painting Semiramis Building Babylon, whose style and subject the present painting evokes.
1862, Edgar Degas, Young Woman with Ibis -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Degas made sketches of this composition during his second stay in Rome, in 1857-58, where he befriended the painter Gustave Moreau. Originally conceived as a depiction of a pensive woman, the picture became layered with theatrical and mythological overtones in a reworking of 1860-62, when Degas added the imaginary Middle Eastern cityscape, the pink flowers, and the two red ibis. He also considered adding the brilliant birds to his large history painting Semiramis Building Babylon, whose style and subject the present painting evokes.