Young Woman with Ibis
Original title: Young Woman with Ibis
kurzbeschreibung
What sets this canvas apart from other portraits of its day is the pairing of a woman in a turquoise dress with a red ibis perched on her shoulder. Begun in 1857–58 and reworked in 1860–62, the oil on canvas (100 x 74.9 cm) places its figure before a city view.
Description
The woman in turquoise looks to the left, one hand resting on her chest. A red ibis sits on her shoulder, while another bird appears off to the side in the distance. Behind her rises a city with several towers, one of them fitted with a carillon. Brown tones dominate the background, making the birds’ bright red stand out. Soft light settles over the quiet scene.
Context
During his stay in Italy from 1856 to 1859, Degas studied Renaissance painting. A woman with an exotic bird answered the period’s taste for oriental subjects. That he took up the picture again in the early 1860s points to his experiments with structure and colour.
Impact
The woman’s pensive posture and the gentle light create an intimate, almost meditative mood. Between the muted background and the ibises’ red plumage arises a contrast that draws the eye to the pairing of woman and bird.
Technique
The picture is painted in oil on canvas, as was usual at the time. Degas used fine brushstrokes and layered his colours to achieve soft transitions and the texture of the dress. The later revisions testify to his careful colour balancing and the continued development of the arrangement.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)