Woman in a Ruffled Cap

1859–60

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)

Culture

Medium

Measurements

Sheet: 14.7 x 11.2 cm (5 13/16 x 4 7/16 in.); Plate: 11.9 x 8.7 cm (4 11/16 x 3 7/16 in.); Image: 10.2 x 7.5 cm (4 x 2 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 2022.257

Catalogue raisonné

Reed and Shapiro 10, Adhémar 12, Delteil 6

State

State III/III

Edition

Edition of 4

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Early scholars believed that this print might be a portrait of Edgar Degas’s mother. Today, instead, it has been tied to a drawing of the same year that depicts a similar but unidentified woman sewing.

Description

Although Edgar Degas is known for his depictions of modern Parisian life, early in his career the artist focused on portraiture. This etching was created after time spent closely studying the prints of Northern master Rembrandt van Rijn at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Degas emulated the elder artist’s distinctive mark making to record the likeness of this woman, whose identity is unknown today. Like many of Degas’s prints, this work was never editioned and exists in only four impressions.