This drawing is from a pivotal moment in Degas's development. It shows his mastery of three-dimensional form--particularly in the solidity of the head--as well as his increasing technical freedom in the breadth of the pastel application. Typically, he has chosen a momentary pose--emphasized by the blurring of the hand--and placed his figure toward the lower-right corner of the square format, looking out of the composition toward the upper left. The color of the dress, richly built up of blue, green, purple and orange, contrasts with the brick red of the hair in a daring effect typical of the mature Degas. The suggestion that the Ring pastel might be a portrait of Madame Dietz-Monnin was first made in 1945 by Degas's cataloguer Paul-André Lemoisne, although Lemoisne kept the title given the pastel in the catalogue of the sale of Degas's studio in 1918. Its subject resembles the three portraits Degas made of Adèle (Madame Charles-Frédéric) Dietz-Monnin around 1879 only slightly, however. (C. Millard, "Selections from the Collection of Marion and Gustave Ring", The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, op. cit.)