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拍品專文
Theodore Reff has confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.
Brame & Lorenceau have confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.
'Madame Camus is the only recorded study for the well-known portrait in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, Mme Camus en rouge (fig. 1; L.271)' (Theodore Reff, letter dated 27 November 2004). Reff goes on to note in the same letter that this drawing 'already shows Degas's fascination, still more evident in the painting, with the dramatic chiaroscuro caused by an eccentric light source that throws much of the sitter, and especially her face, in shadow'. This dramatic use of light which was a significant departure for the artist, was to come to fruition in Degas's depiction of the stage, but was employed to great effect in his portraits.
The oil, Mme Camus en rouge, was a succesful entrant to the official Salon of 1870, and won the favour of the contemporary critic, Théodore Duret, later champion of the Impressionists, who declared in the Electeur Libre (2 June 1870) that it was a 'picture that escapes from the well-trodden ways...the lady in the picture...is a credible, a real, very alive, very feminine, very Parisian...'. Astutely Druet highlights Degas's intuitive ability to suggest the sitter's social standing. Degas was at ease with sensitive women of his own social circle, especially, as with Mme Camus, they shared his interest in music. Mme Camus, the wife of Degas and Manet's doctor, was a brilliant pianist. Degas's also painted Mme Camus at her piano (Madame Camus au Piano, L.207; E.G. Bührle Foundation Zurich). Jeanne Raunay (in her souvenirs of Degas) remembered Mme Camus as being an extremely beautiful young woman with 'eyes charged with langour and wit, which she barely opened, letting their fire gently pass through half-closed eyelids, and her complexion and hair were dream-like' ('Degas, souvenirs anecdotiques', in La Revue de France, 15 March 1931, pp. 213-321, and 1 April 1931, pp. 619-32).
The last time this drawing was offered at auction was at the second Degas studio sale in 1918, where it was purchased by Nunès et Fiquet, whose label appears on the reverse (fig.2), and entered the collection of Mr and Mrs Adolphe Friedmann soon after.
Brame & Lorenceau have confirmed the authenticity of this drawing.
'Madame Camus is the only recorded study for the well-known portrait in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, Mme Camus en rouge (fig. 1; L.271)' (Theodore Reff, letter dated 27 November 2004). Reff goes on to note in the same letter that this drawing 'already shows Degas's fascination, still more evident in the painting, with the dramatic chiaroscuro caused by an eccentric light source that throws much of the sitter, and especially her face, in shadow'. This dramatic use of light which was a significant departure for the artist, was to come to fruition in Degas's depiction of the stage, but was employed to great effect in his portraits.
The oil, Mme Camus en rouge, was a succesful entrant to the official Salon of 1870, and won the favour of the contemporary critic, Théodore Duret, later champion of the Impressionists, who declared in the Electeur Libre (2 June 1870) that it was a 'picture that escapes from the well-trodden ways...the lady in the picture...is a credible, a real, very alive, very feminine, very Parisian...'. Astutely Druet highlights Degas's intuitive ability to suggest the sitter's social standing. Degas was at ease with sensitive women of his own social circle, especially, as with Mme Camus, they shared his interest in music. Mme Camus, the wife of Degas and Manet's doctor, was a brilliant pianist. Degas's also painted Mme Camus at her piano (Madame Camus au Piano, L.207; E.G. Bührle Foundation Zurich). Jeanne Raunay (in her souvenirs of Degas) remembered Mme Camus as being an extremely beautiful young woman with 'eyes charged with langour and wit, which she barely opened, letting their fire gently pass through half-closed eyelids, and her complexion and hair were dream-like' ('Degas, souvenirs anecdotiques', in La Revue de France, 15 March 1931, pp. 213-321, and 1 April 1931, pp. 619-32).
The last time this drawing was offered at auction was at the second Degas studio sale in 1918, where it was purchased by Nunès et Fiquet, whose label appears on the reverse (fig.2), and entered the collection of Mr and Mrs Adolphe Friedmann soon after.