Edgar Degas

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Edgar Degas
1834-1917
Rosa Adelaide Aurora Degas, the Duchess Morbilli
ca. 1858
Watercolor with white opaque watercolor and black chalk on wove paper.
14 1/2 x 7 9/16 inches (368 x 192 mm)
Thaw Collection.
2017.52
Notes: 

Degas' grandfather fled the revolution in France and settled in Naples, though his eldest son--Degas' father--would later return to Paris. The artist' s Neapolitan relatives appear in numerous painted and drawn portraits that were executed while he was in Italy. Rosa (1805-1879), the eldest sister of Degas' father, married Giuseppe Morbilli, Duca di S. Angelo a Frosolone, who died in 1842, leaving her with seven children to support. Her eldest son, Gustavo, died during the 1848 revolution in Italy. This early watercolor--a technique Degas rarely used--was likely executed about 1858 in Naples. The intelligent countenance of the artist's fifty three-year-old aunt renders her among his most compelling familial subjects. --Exhibition Label, from “Degas: Drawings and Sketchbooks”

Provenance: 
Fourth Degas atelier sale (Lugt 658), Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 2-4 July 1919, IV, p. 97, no. 102b, repr.; Durand-Ruel, Paris; William M. Ivins, Milford, Connecticut; sale, Parke Bernet, New York, 24 November 1962, no. 32, repr.; Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York.
Associated names: 

Ivins, William Mills, 1881-1961, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.

Bibliography: 

Thaw Catalogue Raisonné, 2017, no. 78, repr.
Stampfle, Felice, and Cara D. Denison. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975, no. 92.

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