Getty Museum

Brothel Scene

Creator

French Photographer · 1834–1917

Artist

> No art was ever less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study of the great masters; of inspiration, spontaneity, temperament . . . I know nothing. > > --Edgar Germaine Hilaire Degas From a wealthy Parisian family, Degas devoted himself exclusively to painting without needing to sell a canvas. His training was conventional: he spent five years in Italy, studied the O

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Object Description · Getty Museum

A large, untidy woman reclines on a long bench, holding a glass in one hand. The mirror behind her reflects the back of her tousled head. Only the head and shoulders of her companion are visible as he gazes deeply into her eyes from the side of the scene. In this sharp caricature of a prostitute and her soldier, Edgar Degas captured with a few quick strokes the whore's deep appraising look as she sizes up her client. A few impatient lines characterize the broad, fleshy width of her shoulders and arms, the edge of her exposed breast, and her wrinkled dress. Edmond de Goncourt's novel *La Fille Elisa* (The Girl Elisa) was published in March 1877 and quickly caught Degas's attention. In the same year Degas sketched several drawings based on its events in his notebook. The book tells the tragic story of a girl who becomes a prostitute, first in the country and then in a poor quarter of Paris near the École Militaire. She falls in love with a soldier but finally murders him in a rage.

Getty Museum’s catalogue record

produced_by.carried_out_by[0].id: https://data.getty.edu/museum/collection/person/8b37c957-95e3-4a45-b819-50e0bcc226d8
Artist/Maker: Edgar Degas
subject_of[Homepage].id: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/108E22
Date: about 1877
Culture: French
Object Type: Drawing

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Object ID: cffad8ae-1767-4dbe-824d-87cc1265e5a4
Object Type: Drawing
Getty Museum field “Object Type” · copied as is
Creator: Edgar Degas
Getty Museum field “Artist/Maker” · copied as is
Culture: French
Getty Museum field “Culture” · copied as is
Department: Drawings
Getty Museum field “Department” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field · Getty's classification category is stored as department.
Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Getty Museum field “Standard Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
Getty Museum field “Source Credit Line” · the first available of several museum fields
Date: about 1877
Getty Museum field “Date” · copied as is
Begin Year: 1877
Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.begin_of_the_begin” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field
End Year: 1877
Getty Museum field “produced_by.timespan.end_of_the_end” · derived by LinkedCulture from the museum field

The museum’s own record has not been captured for this object yet, so the museum fields shown above are limited to values LinkedCulture stored unchanged.

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