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Lot Essay
The pensive young woman featured in Portrait de femme au corsage vert is believed to be Mademoiselle Salle who was a young apprentice at the Paris Opra in 1884, the date that the present work was executed. There are two other fine pastels of the same date (L. 802-803) in which she appears, one of which was previously in the Thannhauser Collection in Lucerne. Notably, there is also a pastel of 1886 where Degas draws her from three different angles on the same sheet (fig. 1). Degas' interest in Mademoiselle Salle as a sitter lasted almost a decade, culminating in 1892 when Degas executed a clay bust portrait of her (C. W. Millard, The Sculptures of Edgar Degas, Princeton, 1976, no. 117).
Degas executed several pastel portraits of his close friends in the 1880s, including such celebrated figures as Mary Cassatt and Madame Henri Rouart. Pastel seems to have been his chosen medium, perhaps because of its softness and its subtlety, allowing Degas to gently suggest the character of the friend he chose to portray. The best of them have extraordinary balance and often Degas will use such devices as hats, canes or carefully posed hands to bring complexity and depth to the composition. Another portrait of the period, this time of the still-life painter Zacharian, illustrates this point perfectly (fig. 2).
Degas executed several pastel portraits of his close friends in the 1880s, including such celebrated figures as Mary Cassatt and Madame Henri Rouart. Pastel seems to have been his chosen medium, perhaps because of its softness and its subtlety, allowing Degas to gently suggest the character of the friend he chose to portray. The best of them have extraordinary balance and often Degas will use such devices as hats, canes or carefully posed hands to bring complexity and depth to the composition. Another portrait of the period, this time of the still-life painter Zacharian, illustrates this point perfectly (fig. 2).