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Lot Essay
La Famille Cardinal by Ludovic Halévy is the story of Virginie and Pauline Cardinal, two dancers at the Opera de Paris. Attractive and talented, they quickly attracted the attention of wealthy admirers and rose through Parisian salon society. Their parents, meanwhile, were torn between protective austerity and the promise of financial gain. The present work would appear to be an unrecorded, and primary version, of number 219 in Eugenia Parry Janis's checklist of Degas monotypes.
The present work captures the moment in the novel when Ludovic Halévy and his friends corner the two young ballerinas and ask them to accompany them to dinner. The scene, in the manner of a film still, occurs several frames after Janis 218 (now in the Fogg Art Museum) - the gentleman to the left of the group has turned his head to catch the approach of the imposing Madame at the end of the corridor. To achieve the redrawing Degas has both re-inked the plate as well as directly applying gouache to the paper. Scratched-out highlights along the corridor also draw our attention towards Madame Cardinal, whose features have been more clearly identified as she assumes her next role in the narrative. Importantly, as the primary version the present impression includes extensive highlights and is much stronger in both contrast and detail than Janis 219.
The present work captures the moment in the novel when Ludovic Halévy and his friends corner the two young ballerinas and ask them to accompany them to dinner. The scene, in the manner of a film still, occurs several frames after Janis 218 (now in the Fogg Art Museum) - the gentleman to the left of the group has turned his head to catch the approach of the imposing Madame at the end of the corridor. To achieve the redrawing Degas has both re-inked the plate as well as directly applying gouache to the paper. Scratched-out highlights along the corridor also draw our attention towards Madame Cardinal, whose features have been more clearly identified as she assumes her next role in the narrative. Importantly, as the primary version the present impression includes extensive highlights and is much stronger in both contrast and detail than Janis 219.