{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O17815"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O17815/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HC4477/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HC4477/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HC4477","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP5581","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM2238","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KK8227","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O17815/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O17815","accessionNumber":"CAI.19","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera <i>Robert Le Diable</i>","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was born in Paris where he entered the studio of Louis Lamothe (1822-1869), a former pupil of Ingres, in 1854, before attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He completed his artistic training with a three-year journey in Italy and specialised in contemporary subjects upon his return to France.  His work is characterised by a wide range of media (drawings, prints, pastels, paintings and sculptures) and shares many components with the Realist and Impressionist movement even though he remained quite independent. At the end of his life he was regarded as a major artistic figure.\r\n\r\nThis painting is a fine example of Degas' opera scenes. It depicts the final act of the Romantic opera <i>Robert le Diable</i> when deceased nuns come back to life and execute some bacchanal dance. The scene is depicted from behind the orchestra and the first rows of spectators among whom can be recognised some friends of the artist. This compositional idea is quite typical of Degas and is recurring in several stage representations. Although Degas was close to some Impressionist painters, he rather defined his work as realist.","physicalDescription":"In the background, spectral figures dancing on a large stage decorated with a series of arched windows opening onto a cloister; in the foreground, the orchestra stalls and first rows of spectators.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Degas, Hilaire-Germain Edgar","id":"A2116"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"}],"styles":[{"text":"French school","id":"x31263"},{"text":"Impressionism","id":"AAT21503"},{"text":"Realism","id":"x47178"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2014HC4477","2006AP5581","2006AM2238","2017KK8227"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"81","id":"THES49713"},"free":"","case":"WEST WALL","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1876","earliest":"1876-01-01","latest":"1876-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.3685-1919","id":"O1028577"},"association":"Study for"},{"object":{"text":"E.3686-1919","id":"O1028576"},"association":"Study for"},{"object":{"text":"E.3687-1919","id":"O1028575"},"association":"Study for"},{"object":{"text":"E.3688-1919","id":"O1028574"},"association":"Study for"}],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"76.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"81.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"estimate","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"115","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"121","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"framed","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"750","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2015","earliest":"2015-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"},"part":"stretcher","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"812","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2015","earliest":"2015-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"},"part":"stretcher","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"25","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2015","earliest":"2015-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"},"part":"stretcher","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from  C.M. Kauffmann, <i>Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900</i>, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Degas'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed by the artist, lower left"}],"objectHistory":"1876, Jean-Baptiste Faure; 28 February 1881, Durand-Ruel (95, New Bond Street, London); from whom purchased by Constantine Alexander Ionides (possibly advised by Legros), 7 June 1881; listed in his inventory of November 1881 (private collection) with a valuation of £400; bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides in 1900.\n\nHistorical significance: This painting depicts a ballet scene from Giacomo Meyerbeer's (1791-1864) opera, <i>Robert le Diable</i>, a spectacular Romantic opera based on a chivalric romance which premiered on 21 November 1831. This semi-historical opera had a considerable success and was still performed 40 years later when Degas devised this composition. His first, rather smaller and more vertical version of this painting (66 x 54.3 cm), dated 1871, belonged to Mrs H.O. Havemeyer, who bequeathed it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (29.100.552) in 1921. \n\r\nThe painting depicts one of the final scenes when a company of deceased nuns come back to life and try to tempt the main protagonist, Robert. However the artist here focuses more on the accompanying musicians in the ground-floor box and the first rows of the audience rather than on the scene itself. The relatively stiff attitute of the figures in the foreground contrasts with and therefore enhances the sense of movement of the dancing nuns.\n\nAmong the figures in the foreground, one can recognise the collector Albert Hecht, on the far left holding his opera glasses, next to the bassoonist Désiré Dihau, who appears in the exact same position in another painting (California palace of the Legion of Honor-1952.69). The bearded figure seen from behind towards the right is the amateur painter Vicomte Lepic.\n\r\nDegas executed several preparatory drawings for this subject, four of which are in the V&amp;A (see E.3685-1919, E.3686-1919, E.3687-1919, E.3687-1919, E.3688-1919), Degas' himself confessed: 'My art has nothing spontaneous about it, it is all reflection'. His preference for urban subjects, artificial light and use of preparatory drawings distinguishes his work from most other Impressionist painters.\n\r\nWalter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), who specialised in scenes from London music halls, probably knew this painting, which on its bequest to the V&amp;A in 1900 became the first painting by Degas to enter a public collection in Britain.","historicalContext":"19th-century French art is marked by a succession of movements based on a more or less close relationship with nature. At the beginning of the century, Romantic artists were fascinated by nature they interpreted as a mirror of the mind. They investigated human nature and personality, the folk culture, the national and ethnic origins, the medieval era, the exotic, the remote, the mysterious and the occult. This movement was heralded in France by such painter as Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). In its opposition to academic art and its demand for a modern style Realism continued the aims of the Romantics. They assumed that reality could be perceived without distortion or idealization, and sought after a mean to combine the perception of the individual with objectivity. This reaction in French painting against the Grand Manner is well represented by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) who wrote a 'Manifesto of Realism', entitled <i>Le Réalisme</i> published in Paris in 1855. These ideas were challenged by the group of the Barbizon painters, who formed a recognizable school from the early 1830s to the 1870s and developed a free, broad and rough technique. They were mainly concerned by landscape painting and the rendering of light. The works of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña (1807-1876), Jules Dupré (1811-1889), Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Constant Troyon (1810-1865) and Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) anticipate somehow  the <i>plein-air</i> landscapes of the Impressionists. This new interest also extended to genre painting and urban modern life.","briefDescription":"Oil painting, 'The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera \"Robert Le Diable\"', Edgar Degas, 1876","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Digital Degas Catalogue Raisonné</i> (DDCR) identifier: EDQDA2 (https://www.degascatalogueraisonne.com/catalogue/artworks/detail?a=434-ballet-de-robert-le-diable)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Monkhouse, Cosmo, ‘The Constantine Ionides Collection’ in <i>Magazine of Art</i>, vii, 1884, p. 126 f. ill. p. 121."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Moore, George, \"Degas, the Painter of Modern Life,\" <i>The Magazine of Art,</i> Vol. 13 (1890) (ill. p. 421, as \"The Ballet in \"Robert le Diable\")"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"London, Guildhall Art Gallery,<i> Loan Collection of Pictures by Painters of the French School</i>, June 6–August 31, 1898, no. 152, p. 101."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Holmes, Charles John, 'The Constantine Ionides Bequest, Article II - Ingres, Delacroix, Daumier and Degas', <i>The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs</i>, vol. 5, no. 18 (Sept. 1904), pp. 530."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'The Constantine Ionides Collection' in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1904, p. 286, ill. p. 286."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lemoisne, Paul-André,<i> Degas</i>, Paris, 1912, pl. 13."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hourticq, Louis, 'E. Degas' in <i>Art et Decoration</i>, xxxii, 1912, ill. p. 99."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hoppe, Ragnar,<i> Degas: och hans arbeten i nordisk ägo </i>(Stockholm: Föreningen Fransk Konst, 1922) (ill. p. 42)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Long, Basil S., <i>Catalogue of the Constantine Alexander Ionides collection. Vol. 1, Paintings in oil, tempera and water-colour, together with certain of the drawings</i>, London, 1925, p. 19. pl. 11."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Manson, James Bolivar, <i>The life and work of E. Degas</i>, 1927, p. 19, pl. 4."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>100 Masterpieces: Renaissance and Modern </i>(London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1931) (ill. no. 99, as \"The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer's Opera \"Roberto il Diavolo\"\")"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bazin, Germain, 'Degas et l'objectif' in <i>L'Amour de l'Art</i>, xii, 1931, p. 306, fig. 101"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lemoisne, Paul-André,<i> Degas et son oeuvre, ii</i>, 1946, p. 210, no. 391."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Guerin, M., ed., <i>Degas letters</i>, 1947, p. 45"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Browse, Lillian, <i>Degas dancers,</i> 1949, p. 338, pl. 9."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cooper, Douglas, <i>The Courtauld Collection,</i> 1954, p. 67."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pickvance, Ronald, 'Degas's Dancers: 1872-6', <i>The Burlington Magazine</i>, no. 718 vol. CV June 1963 p. 266, note 86."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reff, Theodore, \"The Chronology of Degas's Notebooks,\" <i>The</i> <i>Burlington Magazine,</i> 107, no. 753 (December 1965), p. 614"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mayne, Jonathan, 'Degas's ballet scene from 'Robert le Diable' in <i>Victoria & Albert Museum Bulletin</i>, ii, 1966, pp. 148-56."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Browse, Lillian, \"Degas's Grand Passion,\"<i> Apollo</i> 85, no. 60 (February 1967), p. 105 (ill. fig. 2)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Edgar Degas: In Aid of the Police Dependants' Trust</i>, exh. cat. (London: Lefevre Galleries, 1970) (ill. fig. VIII, p. 16)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kauffmann, C.M.,<i> Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, II. 1800-1900</i>, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, pp. 24-25, cat. no. 58."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Minervino, Fiorella and Lassaigne, Jacques, <i>Tout l'oeuvre peint de Degas</i> (Paris: Flammarion, 1974), no. 487, p. 109 (ill. p. 109; color ill. pl. XL)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reff, Theodore, <i>The Notebooks of Edgar Degas: A Catalogue of the Thirty-Eight Notebooks in the Bibliothèque Nationale and Other Collections</i> (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), p. 119 (Nb 24, p. 9)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dunlop, Ian, <i>Degas </i>(London: Thames & Hudson, 1979) (ill. no. 110, p. 122, as \"Ballet scene from 'Robert Le Diable'\")"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum, London</i>: V&A, 1985, p.176."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Sutton, Denys, <i>Edgar Degas. Life and Work,</i> New York, 1986, pp.161-165, fig. 139."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"McQuillan, Melissa, <i>Impressionist Portraits</i> (London: Thames & Hudson, 1986) (ill. p. 122; color ill. p. 123, detail, as \"Ballet scene from 'Robert Le Diable'\")"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, <i>Degas,</i> February 9–May 16, 1988, no. 159, pp. 269-70 (color ill. p. 269). Traveled to: Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, June 16–August 28, 1988; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 27, 1988–January 8, 1989"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Loyrette, Henri, <i>Degas inédit: Actes du Colloque Degas</i> (Paris: La Documentation Française, 1989), p. 281 (ill. fig. 4, p. 281)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Milner, Frank, <i>Degas </i>(New York: Gallery Books, 1990) (color ill. pp. 98-99, as \"Ballet scene from 'Robert Le Diable'\")"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Loyrette, Henri, <i>Degas</i> (Paris: Fayard, 1991), pp. 271-72"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Elliott, David B. and Skaff, Amanda, \"Vision of the famous: the artist's eye,\" <i>Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics: The Journal of the British College of Optometrists</i> 13, no. 1 (January 1993), p. 85 (ill. fig. 4, p. 85)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kostenevich, Albert, <i>Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum</i>. English ed., exh. cat. (Saint Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum; New York: Harry N Abrams Inc., 1995) (ill. p. 71)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Thomson, Richard, <i>Edgar Degas: Waiting </i>(Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995) (ill. fig. 31)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Buchanan, Harvey, \"Edgar Degas and Ludovic Lepic: An Impressionist Friendship,\" <i>Cleveland Studies in the History of Art </i>vol. 2 (1997), pp. 90-91 (color ill. p. 90)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Atlanta, High Museum of Art,<i> Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums,</i> February 23–May 16, 1999, no. 15, p. 132 (color ill. p. 133). Traveled to: Seattle Art Museum, June 12–August 29, 1999; Denver Art Museum, October 2–December 12, 1999"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"De Vonyar, Jill and Kendall, Richard,<i> Degas and the Dance</i>, New York, 2002, pp. 52-61, fig. 58."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Armstrong, Carol M., <i>Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas</i> (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2003), p. 120 (ill. fig. 65, p. 121)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Art in the Making: Degas,</i> exh. cat. (London: National Gallery, 2004) (color ill. fig. 4, p. 13)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kendall, Richard, <i>Degas by Himself: drawings, prints, paintings, writings</i>, 3rd ed. (London: Time Warner Books, 2004) (color ill. p. 76)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Robins, Anna Gruetzner, and Richard Thomson, <i>Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, 1870-1910</i>, London: Tate Britain, 2006."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cogeval, Guy, Avanzi, Beatrice, and Dumas, Ann, (eds), <i>De la Scene au Tableau: David, Fussli, Klimt, Moreau, Lautrec, Degas, Vuillard...</i>, Paris, 2009, pp. 255-256."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pritchard, Jane, ed. <i>Diaghilev and the golden age of the Ballet Russes, 1909-1929</i> London: V&A Publishing, 2010. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"De Vonyar, Jill and Kendall, Richard, <i>Degas and the Ballet. Picturing Movement</i> London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2011."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, <i>Hopper</i>, June 12–September 16, 2012, no. 40 (color ill. p. 105). Shown only at: Paris, Grand Palais, October 10, 2012–January 28, 2013."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Patry, Sylvie (ed.), <i>Inventing impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the modern art market,</i> London : National Gallery Company : distributed by Yale University Press, 2015, p. 125."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pedersen, Line Clausen, <i>Degas' Method</i>, exh. cat. (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2013) (color ill. fig. 29, p. 71)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Eiling, Alexander B., <i>Degas: Klassik und Experiment</i>, exh. cat. (Munich: Verlag Hirmer, 2014) (color ill. p. 17)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Loyrette, Henri, <i>Degas : a new vision</i>, Melbourne, Victoria : Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, 2016, p. 88."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"London, Victoria and Albert Museum, <i>Opera: Passion, Power and Politics</i>, September 30, 2017–February 25, 2018, no. 153, p. 170 (color ill. pl. 153, p. 171)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"London, Tate Britain, <i>Walter Sickert,</i> April 28–September 18, 2022, unnumbered (color ill. no. 32). Traveled to: Paris, Petit-Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de La Ville de Paris, October 14, 2022–January 29, 2023"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fowle, Frances, ed., <i>Discovering Degas : collecting in time of William Burrell</i>, London ; Dublin : Philip Wilson Publishers in association with Glasgow Life Museums Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024. (ill. no. 32)."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"orchestra (ensemble)","id":"AAT205073"},{"text":"Ballet","id":"AAT54145"},{"text":"Opera","id":"x31801"},{"text":"musicians","id":"AAT25666"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["CAI.19"],"accessionNumberNum":"19","accessionNumberPrefix":"CAI","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2025PH5387","2025PH5386","2025PH5385","2025PH5383","2025PH5382","2025PH5381","2025PH5380","2025PH5379","2025PH5378","2019LU7480","2023NM0164"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-28","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}