NARRATOR:
Copying the works of the Old Masters was an important part of an artist’s training in the 19th century. Edgar Degas was in his late 20s when he sought and obtained permission from the Louvre to set up his easel in the museum’s galleries. He had finished his formal training, but wanted to continue developing his skills on his own. The Rape of the Sabines by the celebrated French 17th-century classicist Nicholas Poussin presented a perfect challenge. The subject matter is far from the contemporary dancers, bathers and horse races we’ve come to expect from Degas. It depicts an event in the history of ancient Rome. At the far left, on a raised platform, Romulus, Rome’s founder, gestures above the mayhem. He had invited the Sabines, an ancient Italian people, to a festival. Now, on his orders, his followers are driving off the men and abducting the women as wives for the city he will build.
Poussin’s classical style emphasized logic, order and clarity. Here, even in this chaotic movement, each figure is sharply delineated and carefully posed. The space recedes precisely in one-point linear perspective. The colors and lighting are hard and clear, far from Degas’ later nuanced color, feathery brush work, and ambiguous spaces. But Degas himself was convinced that his signature style was based on a clear understanding of works like this one:
EDGAR DEGAS (ACTOR):
“I assure you 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.”
The Abduction of the Sabine Women (after Nicolas Poussin)
c. 1861-1862
Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
Not on View
"The masters must be copied over and over again," Degas said, "and it is only after proving yourself a good copyist that you should reasonably be permitted to draw a radish from nature." Degas first received permission to copy paintings at the Louvre in 1853 when he was eighteen. He was most interested in the great works of the Italian Renaissance and of his own classical French heritage, hence this detailed copy of Poussin's painting.
Details
- Artist Name: Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917)
- Title: The Abduction of the Sabine Women (after Nicolas Poussin)
- Date: c. 1861-1862
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 59-1/8 x 81-1/2 in. (150.18 x 207.01 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: F.1983.06.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Henri Rouart (1833-1912), Paris by 1907 (sale, Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, 9-11 December 1912, lot 180, ill., as L'Enlèvement des Sabines, D'après Le Poussin, for Ff 55,000, to);
Rouart, by inheritance to;
Mme. Helen (Eugène) Marin, née Rouart, (d. 1929) Paris, by inheritance to her daughter;
Mme. Bricka, Montpellier, by 1937, presumably still in 1946.
[?Leonardo] Benatov, Paris.
Huntington Hartford, New York, sold 1958 to;
[E.V. Thaw & Co., New York, owned jointly with Stephen Hahn, New York, sold 3 May1978 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1983 to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Rouart, by inheritance to;
Mme. Helen (Eugène) Marin, née Rouart, (d. 1929) Paris, by inheritance to her daughter;
Mme. Bricka, Montpellier, by 1937, presumably still in 1946.
[?Leonardo] Benatov, Paris.
Huntington Hartford, New York, sold 1958 to;
[E.V. Thaw & Co., New York, owned jointly with Stephen Hahn, New York, sold 3 May1978 to];
Norton Simon, gift 1983 to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Degas
- Paris, Musee de l'Orangerie, de Tuileries, 1937-03 to 1937-04
- Rosenberg, Pierre, Nicolas Poussin: 1594-1665,fig. 72b p. 254
- Rouart, Denis, Degas: In Search of His Technique,no. 2 pp. 15, 129
- Reff, Theodore, Art Bulletin, p. 555
- Jamot, Paul, Degas, pp. 9-10
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 141
- Armstrong, Carol, Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas,fig. 59 pp. 115-116
- McMullen, Roy, Degas: His Life, Times and Work, pp. 109, 112-113, 451
- Grappe, Georges, Degas, p. 10
- Campbell, Sara et al., Degas in the Norton Simon Museum,2009, Fig. 1 p. 73
- Kendall, Richard, Degas: Beyond Impressionism,fig. 59 p. 61
- Boggs, Jean Sutherland et al., Degas,no. 28
- Mauclair, Camille, Degas,no. 69, pl. 69 p. 7
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 1520 p. 416
- Noteworthy Paintings in American Private Collections, pp. 252-253; pp. 343-344, 348-349
- Pecirka, Jaromír, Degas dessins, p. 10
- Rebatet, Marguerite, Degas, p. 37
- Emily A. Beeny and Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, Poussin and the Dance,2021, plate 32 pp. 89, 91, 118 ; pp. 100-101 (ill.)
- Alexandre, Arsène, Les Arts, p. 17, 26
- Paintings from the Huntington Hartford Collection in the Gallery of Modern Art,fig. 18
- Rouart, Denis, Degas à la Recherche de sa Technique, p. 9
- Lafond, Paul, Degas, pp. 29, 30-31
- Thompson, James, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin,fig. 28 pp. 34, 37
- Lemoisne, Paul-André, Degas et son oeuvre,no. 273 p. 135
- Halévy, Daniel, My Friend Degas, p. 57
- Meier-Graefe, Julius, Degas,pl. VIII pp. 22-23
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