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Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla
Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
about 1876
Place of Origin: France
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 66 x 97.8 cm (26 x 38 1/2 in.)
Framed: 88.9 x 121.9 x 7.6 cm (35 x 48 x 3 in.)
Framed: 88.9 x 121.9 x 7.6 cm (35 x 48 x 3 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, a Gift of Mrs. Robert B. Osgood in memory of Horace D. Chapin, and a Gift in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by the Fuller Foundation; and from the Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund, William Francis Warden Fund, Frank B. Bemis Fund, James E. Neill Memorial Fund, Fanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow Fund, Frederick L. Jack Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, M. Theresa B. Hopkins Fund, Harriet Otis Cruft Fund, Gift of Jessie H. Wilkinson—Jessie H. Wilkinson Fund, Lucy Dalbiac Luard Fund, Grant Walker Fund, Helen B. Sweeney Fund, and European Paintings Deaccession Fund
Accession Number2003.250
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This is Degas’s last great family portrait, painted as a gift to its sitter, Stéphanie Carafa, Marchesa di Cicerale, Duchessa di Montejasi— known to the artist more simply as Aunt Fanny. Portrayed without flattery, the Duchessa assumes a static, frontal pose, in marked contrast to her daughters, whose sense of movement Degas conveyed by first painting and then partially wiping them away. All three women wear black mourning attire, more austere and stately on the elder woman and stylish on the youthful duo.
ProvenanceProbably given by the artist to his aunt, Stéphanie De Gas Primicile-Carafa, Marquesa di Cicerale and Duchessa di Montejasi (b. 1819 - d. 1901), Naples [see note 1]. 1923, sold by Vincent Imberti (dealer), Bordeaux, France to David David-Weill (b. 1871 - d. 1952), Paris and Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; by descent to his grandchildren, Paris; 2003, sold by the descendants of David David-Weill to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 25, 2003)
NOTES:
[1] The provenance information given here (through 1923) comes from Jean Sutherland Boggs et al., "Degas" (exh. cat., Paris, Ottawa, and New York, 1988/1989), p. 254, cat. no. 146.
NOTES:
[1] The provenance information given here (through 1923) comes from Jean Sutherland Boggs et al., "Degas" (exh. cat., Paris, Ottawa, and New York, 1988/1989), p. 254, cat. no. 146.