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The Engraver Joseph Tourny,

1857

Edgar Degas, 1834–1917, born and died Paris, France
x1960-6
Etched in Rome when Degas was twenty-four years old, this work depicts the artist’s friend Joseph Tourny in the soft light of his studio window. A watercolorist and printmaker who specialized in copies after the Old Masters, Tourny twice won the Prix de Rome for his engravings and regularly exhibited in the Paris Salon after 1857. It is generally accepted that Tourny taught Degas the art of etching in Rome. The print bears the small image of the head of a monk, seen in profile in the margin of the plate. Known as a remarque in nineteenth-century printmaking, the motif probably indicates the quiet nature of the sitter and the Roman setting.

Information

Title
The Engraver Joseph Tourny
Dates

1857

Maker

Edgar Degas

Medium
Etching with touches of black chalk
Dimensions
plate: 23 x 14.4 cm. (9 1/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of James H. Lockhart, Jr., Class of 1935
Object Number
x1960-6
Place Made

Europe, Italy, Rome

Inscription
Inscribed and dated in graphite, lower right: Rome, 1858
Marks/Labels/Seals
Collector James Henry Lockhart's stamp, verso lower right: (Lugt 4387) Stamps, verso lower right: Atelier Degas
Reference Numbers
Reed and Shapiro 5; Adhémar and Cachin 8 A; Delteil 4; Degas Atelier sale 8
Culture
European
Type
prints, etchings
Materials
printing ink
Techniques
etching (printing process)
Subject
figures (representations), men, portraits, artists

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