Portrait of a Portrait of the Artist: Degas’ copy of Lippi
June 19, 2012
The same face, rendered by two artists, both in their twenties… nearly 400 years apart.
In our exhibition, The Last Things Before the Last, is an early drawing from the MMA collection by Edgar Degas, often regarded as one of the founders of French Impressionism (although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist). He made the drawing while a young man traveling in Italy in the 1850s. During that period, Degas was prolific, drawing many copies of the paintings he admired by masters of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and in this case, Filippino Lippi.
The painting that inspired Degas has been in the Uffizi Gallery collection in Florence since 1771. It is generally believed to be a self portrait by the Florentine artist Filippino Lippi (1457 – 1504) although some scholars disagree. Here’s an interesting video from a 2007 exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery describing some of the history and debate about the Lippi painting:
And while we’re on the subject of portraits, and Degas, a second Degas drawing in McMaster’s collection is also included in this summer’s exhibition. This one is a portrait of the artist’s father:
c. 1856-1858, graphite, 38.1 x 26.7 cm,
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E.,
1984, McMaster Museum of Art Collection, McMaster University
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