Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edgar-degas-988" aria-label="More by Edgar Degas" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edgar Degas</a>
Head a Woman
Presented by Viscount D'Abernon and Lord Duveen 1919
adults
body
head / face
people
woman
<p>The identity of the sitter for this painting is unknown. The heavily textured canvas and bold brushwork are not typical of Degas' style in this period, and suggest that the work may have been experimental. A blackish underpainting is visible in many places. This has almost certainly become more visible since the picture was painted, due to a tendency of oil paint to increase in translucency as it ages. It seems likely that the figure's face would originally have been unblemished.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 March 1997
5 March 1997
1997-03-05
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
1997-03-05
Long Loan to the National Gallery
Loan-out
Head of a Woman
support: 321 × 267 mm
Presented by Viscount D'Abernon and Lord Duveen 1919
<p>The identity of the sitter for this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> is unknown. The heavily <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impasto" title="Glossary definition for 'Impasto'"><span>textured</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> and bold brushwork are not typical of Degas' style in this period, and suggest that the work may have been experimental. A blackish underpainting is visible in many places. This has almost certainly become more visible since the picture was painted, due to a tendency of oil paint to increase in translucency as it ages. It seems likely that the figure's face would originally have been unblemished.</p>
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2004-08-31T00:00:00
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<p><b>Edgar Degas</b> 1834-1917</p>
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/degas-head-of-a-woman-n03390" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03390</span></a> <b>Tête de Femme</b> (Head of a Woman) <i>c</i>.1874</p>
<p>Inscribed 'Degas' t.l. 
<br/>Oil on canvas, 12 5/8 x 10 1/2 (32 x 27) 
<br/>Presented by Viscount D'Abernon and Lord Duveen 1919 
<br/><i>Prov</i>: 1st Degas sale, Petit, Paris, 6-8 May 1918, lot 15, repr.; bt. Stettiner for Viscount D'Abernon, 8,500 frs.; Viscount D'Abernon, London, and Lord Duveen, London, 1918 
<br/><i>Lit</i>: P.A. Lemoisne, <i>Degas et son Oeuvre</i> (Paris 1946), No.355, Vol.2, p.186, repr. p.187 (dated <i>c</i>.1874); Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino, <i>L'Opera Completa di Degas</i> (Milan 1970), No.373, p.104 repr. 
<br/><i>Repr</i>: J.B. Manson, <i>The Life and Work of Edgar Degas</i> (London 1927), pl.6</p>
<p><b>Published in</b>: 
<br/>Ronald Alley, <i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.145, reproduced p.145</p>

Catalogue entry
2003-07-16T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults body head / face people woman