Achille De Gas in the Uniform of a Cadet

1856/1857

Edgar Degas

Artist, French, 1834 - 1917

Shown from the knees up, a young man with pale, peachy skin, wearing a black uniform and cap, leans against the back of a chair in this vertical portrait painting. He looks at us with pale blue eyes under sloping brows. He has an oval face, a rounded nose, and the corners of his closed mouth turn slightly down. His cap has a narrow, rounded, shiny black brim, a gold band around the crown, and a gold embellishment at the front center. The white collar of his shirt is visible along the neckline of his vest, which fastens with two lines of gold-colored buttons. His black jacket, also lined with gold buttons, hangs open. Braided gold ropes are looped under his arm from his right shoulder, to our left. More gold ropes hang down almost to his waist from that shoulder. He has a sky-blue and gold striped belt with a gold medallion at the front center over his vest. Gold bands encircle the wrists of both jacket sleeves, and his trousers are black. His right hand, to our left, rests against the back of the chair, with his palm facing away, and he leans that hip against those fingers. The chair has a coffee-brown back. He rests his other hand by his side, possibly on the hilt of a dagger or sword hanging from his far hip. The wall behind him is rust red.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 64.5 x 46.2 cm (25 3/8 x 18 3/16 in.)
    framed: 93.3 x 82.5 cm (36 3/4 x 32 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.123

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

René de Gas, brother of the artist; (de Gas sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10 November 1927, no. 73); purchased by (Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris); for Chester Dale [1883-1962]; gift 1963 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • 100 Years of French Portraits from the Chester Dale Collection, Museum of French Art, New York, 1928, no. 9

1931

  • Exposition Degas, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1931, no. 10

  • Degas and his Tradition, Museum of French Art, New York, 1931, no. 4

1932

  • Naval and Military Portraits, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1932, no. 10.

1933

  • Edgar Degas, The Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1933, no. 10.

1936

  • Degas, The Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1936, no. 3, repro.

1938

  • Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 1938, no. 10

  • The Precursors of Modern Art, Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, 1938, no. 9, repro.

1939

  • Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 145

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 25, repro.

1931

  • Blanche, Jacques-Emile. "Faces: Portraits by Degas." Formes 12 (February 1931): 21+, repro.

1935

  • Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 290, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 290, repro.).

1941

  • Catalogue of French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 5, pl. IX

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Now the Great French 19th Century in the National Gallery." Art News 40, no. 17 (December 15-31, 1941):repro. p. 18

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 35, repro.

  • Dale, Chester. "The Golden Century of French Art." The New York Times Magazine 17 May 1942: 20, repro.

1944

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 164, color repro.

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 35, repro.

  • Jewell, Edward Alden. French Impressionists and their Contemporaries Represented in American Collections. New York, 1944: repro. 109.

1946

  • Lemoisne, Paul André. Degas et son oeuvre. 4 vols. Paris, 1946-1949.

  • Rewald, John. "Degas and His Family in New Orleans." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6e ser., 30 (August 1946): 112, fig. 7

  • Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York, 1946: repro.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 44, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 325, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 39.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 72, repro.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:434, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 31, repro.

1970

  • Minervino 1970, no.124.

1973

  • Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. Rev. ed., New York, 1973: repro. p.56

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 98, repro.

1980

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1980: 434, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 474, no. 696, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 121, repro.

1994

  • Baumann, Felix and Marianne Karabelnik, eds. Degas Portraits. Exh.cat. Zurich, 1994:178, repro.

1997

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism, 1997, no. 264, repro.

2017

  • Hoenigswald, Ann, and Kimberly A. Jones. "The Question of Finish in the Work of Edgar Degas." In Degas, Daphne Barbour and Suzanne Quillen Lomax, eds. Facture. Conservation, Science, Art History 3 (2017): 20-49, esp. 34-35, fig. 10.

Wikidata ID

Q20188364

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