Portrait of Virginie Cardinal’s Favorite, the Actor Crochard (illustration for La Famille Cardinal by Ludovic Halévy)

Description

Degas’s Portrait of Virginie Cardinal’s Favorite, the Actor Crochard gives a character from Ludovic Halévy’s La Famille Cardinal a compact visible presence. Dark hair, a moustache, and a coat frame the small frontal bust against pale surrounding paper. Broad crossing marks add another layer to the printed field. Within that spare arrangement, black ink supplies enough contrast for a head and expression to emerge without the full descriptive detail of a literary passage.

Made around 1880, the work belongs to Degas’s illustrations for Halévy’s stories. The distinction between writer and artist matters: Halévy supplied the text, while Degas shaped this image. Monotype printing allows broad dark passages and lighter interruptions to meet without the regularity of an engraved line. The result is less a polished public likeness than a compact interpretation, finding character through the particular arrangement of light and ink.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Edgar Degas collection.