Italian Woman by Degas

This delicate early watercolor belongs to the realist movement and bears witness to the painter’s formative stay in Italy at the beginning of his career. In the work titled “Italian Woman”, the French artist Degas Edgar is dedicated to documenting the traditional costumes of the inhabitants of the Roman countryside. This drawing already shows his respect for classical rigor combined with a naturalistic gaze devoid of any picturesque sentimentality.

The figure of a young Italian peasant woman is shown standing full-length, slightly in three-quarter view. She wears a white chemise with red sleeves, a tight dark-blue bodice, a large white apron, and a traditional headdress over her dark hair. Her left arm rests in a relaxed manner on a high, ocre limestone block. On this pedestal sits a large brown clay pitcher with an elegant handle. The background is treated in a minimalist fashion with grey and beige washes, highlighting the monumental silhouette of the young woman and the overall precision of her pose in space and her calm expression.

The artist’s mastery of watercolor is revealed in the fluid application of washes that sculpt the folds of the clothing and the volumes of the anatomy. The fineness of the underlying graphite line demonstrates an exemplary academic rigor and remarkable technical virtuosity.