Ludovic Lepic Holding His Dog (1889): Art, History and Details

Ludovic Lepic Holding His Dog (1889) 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:

Degas executed this portrait of his friend, the artist Ludovic Lepic, with rapid and expressive strokes of powdery pastel. The two artists worked together closely in printmaking early on, and this work is one of several commemorative depictions that Degas made throughout his career. Here, Lepic is seen with his pet, a Belgian Griffon, suggesting a fondness for dogs for which he was well-known in late-19th century Paris. He died just about one month after this portrait was completed at the age of 50.

Object facts

• Title: Ludovic Lepic Holding His Dog
• Date: 1889
• Creator attribution: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pastel
• Dimensions: Sheet: 49.8 x 32.1 cm (19 5/8 x 12 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 50.6 x 38 cm (19 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1988.93

A detail from the museum

Scholars have suggested that the unusual tonality of this drawing is due to the fact that it was executed in artificial rather than natural light.

Collection credit

Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue des tableaux, pastels, et dessins par Edgar Degas...2e vente. Paris: Georges Petit, 1918.
• Degas, portratiste, sculpteur. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1931.
• Catalogue des dessins, aquarelles, gouaches, pastels...composant la collection de M. Georges Viau. Paris: Drouot, 1942.

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.