Stefanina Primicile Carafa, Marchioness of Cicerale and Duchess of Montejasi (c. 1875): Art, History and Details

Stefanina Primicile Carafa, Marchioness of Cicerale and Duchess of Montejasi (c. 1875) 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:

Although best remembered for his depictions of ballet dancers and race horses, Degas painted many likenesses of his family members. He probably painted this portrait of his aunt, Stefania Carafa (1819–1901), during an extended visit to Naples, where many of his relatives lived. Described in family papers as a highly indulged, fun-loving child, the duchess grew into the stoic, world-weary woman depicted here. No expensive finery reveals her high social rank; indeed she wears a mourning dress, possibly to observe the recent death of her brother Achille.

Object facts

• Title: Stefanina Primicile Carafa, Marchioness of Cicerale and Duchess of Montejasi
• Date: c. 1875
• Creator attribution: Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on fabric
• Dimensions: Framed: 67.6 x 58.4 x 6 cm (26 5/8 x 23 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 49 x 39.4 cm (19 5/16 x 15 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1958.28

A detail from the museum

Degas was a Parisian by birth, but had family connections around the world, including New Orleans and Italy. In this portrait Degas's aunt, who was a titled member of the aristocracy in southwestern Italy, is captured in loose, flowing strokes with her mourning dress and watery-eyed gaze.

Collection credit

Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.

Further reading listed by the museum

• Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Collectors and Million-Dollar Taste." ARTnews 52 (March 1953): 24-25.
• Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. Thesis M.A. Oberlin College, 1955.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

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.