René de Gas
Edgar Degas·1855
Historical Context
René De Gas, Edgar's younger brother by six years, was painted by Degas around 1855 when René was approximately ten years old and Degas twenty-one — making this one of his earliest surviving portraits. René later moved to New Orleans, and Degas would visit him there in 1872–1873, producing the famous Cotton Exchange and several New Orleans family portraits. This early portrait is a document of Degas's pre-Italian formation and shows the care with which he observed the faces of those close to him even before his formal training was complete.
Technical Analysis
The portrait presents René in a format derived from the academic portrait tradition Degas was absorbing: three-quarter view, neutral ground, light from the upper left. The execution is more tentative than his mature work, but the direct engagement with the subject's eyes — the fundamental quality of all his best portraiture — is already present.
