Diego Martelli (1879): Art, History and Details

Diego Martelli (1879) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This sheet is one of many studies that Degas made in 1879 of his friend and supporter, the Italian art critic and patron Diego Martelli (1839-1896). Martelli was one of the most important champions of progressive modern art in Italy, and his writings on the 1879 Impressionist show became famous, playing a crucial role in publicizing the movement. This sheet relates to two painted portraits of the critic, one in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, and the other in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires.

Object facts

• Title: Diego Martelli
• Date: 1879
• Creator attribution: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: charcoal and white chalk
• Dimensions: Sheet: 44 x 31.3 cm (17 5/16 x 12 5/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1953.268

A detail from the museum

The ghostly white tone of Diego Martelli's face was likely pink or peach when Degas made the work, and has gradually faded over time.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue des tableaux, pastels, et dessins par Edgar Degas et provenant de son atelier...3e vente... Paris: Georges Petit, 1919.
• "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April - June 1953." Art Quarterly 16, no. 4 (Winter 1953): 346-365.
• Francis, Henry S. "Drawings by Degas." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 44, no. 10 (December 1957): 212-217.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.