At the Milliner's


At the Milliner's, 1882
Edgar Degas, French, 1834-1917
Pastel on pale gray wove paper (industrial wrapping paper, stamped on verson OLD RELIABLE BOLTING EXPRESSLY FOR MILLING) laid down on silk bolting
Signed and dated (upper right): 1882 / Degas
Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemayer 1929, Metropolitan Museum of Art #29.100.38

(From the info card):
"Mary Cassatt was the model for the customer in this work and also for another in the milliner series (Museum of Modern Art, New York). She purportedly said that she posed for Degas 'only once in a while when he finds the movement difficult and the model cannot seem to get his idea.' The pastel was shown in the final Impressionist exhibition, in 1886."

   
My photo is speckly because the original was very dark. I suspect because this piece is a pastel, they kept the light low to reduce light damage.