Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla, by Degas (1876, c.)

Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters, Elena and Camilla, by Degas (1876, c.)

Degas, Edgar (1834-1917)

1876, c.

Although it is a portrait, the arrangement of the mother and daughters of marriageable age recalls some compositions of procuresses or madamas and their pupils.

"This is the last of Degas’s great family portraits. It is also among the most surprising. The portrayal of the artist’s Aunt Fanny is without flattery, delicately balanced between austerity and empathy. Her frontal, static, focused image is contrasted with the lively bearing of her daughters, whose sense of movement is increased by the offhand way in which the artist painted, then wiped away, their portraits." (Description from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States, http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/duchessa-di-montejasi-with-her-daughters-elena-and-camilla-397941, Archived in: https://web.archive.org/web/20200625003054/https://collections.mfa.org/objects/397941) 

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/duchessa-di-montejasi-with-her-daughters-elena-and-camilla-397941

Archived in:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200625003054/https://collections.mfa.org/objects/397941

Accession number: 2003.250

Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 66 × 97.8 cm