Dancers Resting
Edgar Degas
(French, 1834–1917)
1881–85
Medium/TechniquePastel on paper mounted on paperboard
Dimensions49.8 x 58.4 cm (19 5/8 x 23 in.)
Credit LineJuliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession number39.669
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPastels
Collections
Beginning about 1870, Degas explored in his art the lives of dancers at the ballet of the Paris Opera - on stage, in rehearsal, and backstage in private moments. Here, the artist took his drawing of a seated dancer (at right) and added pieces of paper to create a larger composition, incorporating the figure of another dancer in a red shawl and the large expanse of floor in front of her. Degas left his notations - perhaps measurements of the added strips - visible at right.
InscriptionsLower left: degasProvenanceNovember 21, 1898, sold by Shchukin (probably Sergei Shchukin b. 1851 - d. 1936) to Durand-Ruel et Cie., Paris and New York; October 6, 1900, sold by Durand-Ruel to Harris Whittemore (b. 1864 - d. 1927), Naugatuck, CT; February 1, 1913, sold by Whittemore to Durand-Ruel, Inc., New York; 1913, sold by Durand-Ruel to Hannah Marcy Edwards (d. 1929), Boston; 1939, bequest of Hannah Marcy Edwards to the MFA [see note 1]. (Accession Date: October 11, 1939)
NOTES:
[1] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
NOTES:
[1] Siblings Robert (d. 1924), Hannah (d. 1929), and Grace (d. 1938) Edwards were each collectors of art, who seemed to have had joint ownership of the objects in their possession. When Robert died, he bequeathed his collection to the MFA in memory of their mother, Juliana Cheney Edwards. In 1925, after his death, part of his collection was acquired by the Museum, and the remainder went to his sisters, with the understanding that the objects would ultimately be left to the MFA in the collection begun in memory of their mother. The collections of Hannah and Grace were left to the MFA in 1939, following Grace's death. It is not always possible to determine exactly which paintings each sibling had owned.
Henry Tonks
Constant Troyon
