The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Woman in a Ruffled Cap

1859–60

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
etching on wove paper
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.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 2022.257
Catalogue raisonné: Reed and Shapiro 10, Adhémar 12, Delteil 6
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.
  • 1860–1917
    Studio of the artist, by descent
    November 22–23, 1918
    (sale, Estampes par Edgar Degas, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, Paris, France)
    1917–1927
    René de Gas [1845–1927], Paris, by descent
    1927–?
    Odette de Gas [1887–1932] and Roland Nepveu [1885–1962], Paris, by descent
    Arlette Nepveu-Degas, Paris, by descent
    ?–2006
    Private Collection - ?-2006
    May 24, 2006
    (sale, Christie’s, Paris, May 24, 2006, no. 19, sold to C.G. Boerner) – 2006
    2006
    (C.G. Boerner, New York, NY, sold to a private collection) – 2006
    2006–22
    Private collection – 2006–22
    2022
    (Mireille Mosler, Ltd., New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 5, 2022-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Galerie Manzi-Joyant (Paris, France). Eaux-fortes, vernis-mous, aqua-tintes par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier. 1918. Mentioned: p. 4, probably no. 7
    Art Impressionniste et modern, dont un ensemble d’œuvres provenant de l’atelier Degas. Paris: Christie’s, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 42, no. 19
    Degas, Edgar. Edgar Degas, 1834-1917: Etchings, Lithographs, Monotypes & Copper Plates. Islip [England]: N.G. Stogdon, 2006. Mentioned: no. 4
  • Edgar Degas, 1834–1917: Etchings, Lithographs, Monotypes, & Copper Plates. N.G. Stogdon and C.G. Boerner, London (October 26–November 10, 2006).
  • {{cite web|title=Woman in a Ruffled Cap|url=false|author=Edgar Degas|year=1859–60|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.257