I travelled to see Dancer Looking at the Sole of her Right Foot by Edgar Degas at the Courtauld Gallery in London. Come join me there too. Welcome to Art, Culture & Travel with me, Anthony King.
We previously visited a version of Dancer Looking at the Sole of her Right Foot at the Oxford Ashmolean Museum. Following Degas’s death in 1917, his studio revealed over 150 sculptures, primarily crafted from delicate materials like wax and clay with many in poor condition. Only a handful had been preserved in plaster copies. Despite Degas’s preference against permanent materials, his heirs allowed for bronze casting to conserve and commercialize the works. Sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholomé, alongside a famous Paris foundry prepared 72 figures for casting. Each bronze underwent rigorous quality control, with a limited edition of twenty-two sets produced around 1920, reflecting models from the period prior to 1895–1900.
By Anthony King (c)