A-Level: Edgar Degas, The Bellelli Family


Edgar Degas, The Bellelli Family, 1858-67, oil on canvas, 78-3/4 x 98-1/2″, 200 x 250 cm (Musée d’Orsay, Paris)

Degas was in his mid-twenties when he painted this canvas. It depicts, from left to right, the ten-year-old Giovanna; her mother (and the artist’s paternal aunt) Laura; her younger daughter, Giula, age 7; and the Baron Gennaro Bellelli. Preperatory sketches for the painting may have been made in Florence where the family was living—the Baron had been exiled from Naples. The picture may have been completed in Paris.


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Cite this page as: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, "A-Level: Edgar Degas, The Bellelli Family," in Smarthistory, July 25, 2017, accessed March 19, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/edgar-degas-the-bellelli-family-2/.