![[Music Iconography] Degas, Edgar. (1834 - 1917) & Thornley, Georges William. (1857 - 1935) Répétition ("The Rehearsal"), 1888](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Degas_EdgarThornley_GeorgesWilliamRepetition23502a.jpg?v=1727884226)
![[Music Iconography] Degas, Edgar. (1834 - 1917) & Thornley, Georges William. (1857 - 1935) Répétition ("The Rehearsal"), 1888](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Degas_EdgarThornley_GeorgesWilliamRepetition23502b.jpg?v=1727884226)
![[Music Iconography] Degas, Edgar. (1834 - 1917) & Thornley, Georges William. (1857 - 1935) Répétition ("The Rehearsal"), 1888](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Degas_EdgarThornley_GeorgesWilliamRepetition23502c.jpg?v=1727884226)
![[Music Iconography] Degas, Edgar. (1834 - 1917) & Thornley, Georges William. (1857 - 1935) Répétition ("The Rehearsal"), 1888](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Degas_EdgarThornley_GeorgesWilliamRepetition23502d.jpg?v=1727884226)
![[Music Iconography] Degas, Edgar. (1834 - 1917) & Thornley, Georges William. (1857 - 1935) Répétition ("The Rehearsal"), 1888](http://www.schubertiademusic.com/cdn/shop/files/Degas_EdgarThornley_GeorgesWilliamRepetition23502e.jpg?v=1727884225)
Lithograph printed in pink on Chine appliqué, circa 1888, signed in pencil by both Degas and Thornley, lower margin, a rare artist's proof impression from the edition of 25, before the lithographic signature and the publisher's address was added, published in Quinze Lithographies d'Apres Degas par G. W. Thornley, by Boussod, Valadon & Cie., Paris. Chine appliqué supported on gray toned stiff wove paper. Lithograph measures 8 x 10.25 inches (20.5 x 26 cm) to an overall sheet size of 18.75 x 24.25 inches (47.5 x 61.5 cm). Support sheet with toning and wear around the edges, well away from the lithograph and easily matted out of view, else fine. A very good impression of this extremely scarce lithograph.
Degas was likely influenced to collaborate with the lithographer Thornley by Theo Van Gogh, the influential director of the Boussod-Valadon Gallery in Paris and the brother of Vincent, and as a result of Thornley's masterful lithographic interpretations of drawings by Puvis de Chavannes. By 1888, Degas and Thornley were working together to produce a portfolio of 15 lithographs based on drawings by Degas. The portfolio was issued in 1889 in an edition of 100, plus an additional deluxe edition of 25 with each of the prints signed by both artists. Reed/Shapiro p. lvii.
Barbara Shapiro records, "Degas is known to have taken an active part in the making of reproductive prints after his paintings. For instance, he was committed to the work of the lithographer Georges-William Thornley, with whom he corresponded. In an undated letter to Thornley, Degas indicated his desire to make some changes to the drawing on the transfer paper by Thornley." (Reed and Shapiro: Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1984, p.25)
This lithograph is after the painting originally titled École de danse that Degas entered in the fourth exhibition of the Impressionists in 1879. The Rehearsal is one of many compositions devoted to dance that the artist produced in the 1870s, apparently fascinated with the mechanization of the human body that the rigorous discipline of the ballet imposed. In the same exhibition of 1879 Degas showed two other pictures of dancers practicing with a violinist. In all of them the unidentified musician appears divorced from the events surrounding him, his age and stolid form providing a touching contrast to the doll-like ballerinas. The work is currently in The Frick Collection in New York City.
Lithograph printed in pink on Chine appliqué, circa 1888, signed in pencil by both Degas and Thornley, lower margin, a rare artist's proof impression from the edition of 25, before the lithographic signature and the publisher's address was added, published in Quinze Lithographies d'Apres Degas par G. W. Thornley, by Boussod, Valadon & Cie., Paris. Chine appliqué supported on gray toned stiff wove paper. Lithograph measures 8 x 10.25 inches (20.5 x 26 cm) to an overall sheet size of 18.75 x 24.25 inches (47.5 x 61.5 cm). Support sheet with toning and wear around the edges, well away from the lithograph and easily matted out of view, else fine. A very good impression of this extremely scarce lithograph.
Degas was likely influenced to collaborate with the lithographer Thornley by Theo Van Gogh, the influential director of the Boussod-Valadon Gallery in Paris and the brother of Vincent, and as a result of Thornley's masterful lithographic interpretations of drawings by Puvis de Chavannes. By 1888, Degas and Thornley were working together to produce a portfolio of 15 lithographs based on drawings by Degas. The portfolio was issued in 1889 in an edition of 100, plus an additional deluxe edition of 25 with each of the prints signed by both artists. Reed/Shapiro p. lvii.
Barbara Shapiro records, "Degas is known to have taken an active part in the making of reproductive prints after his paintings. For instance, he was committed to the work of the lithographer Georges-William Thornley, with whom he corresponded. In an undated letter to Thornley, Degas indicated his desire to make some changes to the drawing on the transfer paper by Thornley." (Reed and Shapiro: Edgar Degas: The Painter as Printmaker, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1984, p.25)
This lithograph is after the painting originally titled École de danse that Degas entered in the fourth exhibition of the Impressionists in 1879. The Rehearsal is one of many compositions devoted to dance that the artist produced in the 1870s, apparently fascinated with the mechanization of the human body that the rigorous discipline of the ballet imposed. In the same exhibition of 1879 Degas showed two other pictures of dancers practicing with a violinist. In all of them the unidentified musician appears divorced from the events surrounding him, his age and stolid form providing a touching contrast to the doll-like ballerinas. The work is currently in The Frick Collection in New York City.