Portrait of Elena Carafa

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Degas Elena Carafa: Introduction

Elena Carafa turns toward us from a patterned armchair. A pale green shawl covers her dark dress, while one hand holds open a book or magazine across her lap. Her face is carefully observed; the wall behind her is far less resolved. Edgar Degas made this portrait of his first cousin around 1875. It is in the National Gallery, London, as NG4167. ^{[1] [2]}

The sitter's family identity is unusually secure for a Degas portrait. Elena's mother, Stefanina, was the youngest sister of Degas's father, Augustin De Gas. The family lived in Naples. The Gallery says the painting may have been made during one of Degas's visits there, or while Elena was in Paris. That unresolved location matters: the room in the picture should not be confidently named as a Neapolitan home simply because the family connection points to Naples. ^[1]

The painting at a glance

• ArtistEdgar Degas (1834–1917)
• TitlePortrait of Elena Carafa
• DateAbout 1875
• MediumOil on canvas
• Dimensions70.1 × 55 cm
• CollectionThe National Gallery, London, NG4167
• SitterElena Carafa, Degas's first cousin

Contents

1. Introduction
2. At a Glance
3. A reader who looks up
4. A portrait changed as it was made
5. Elena and other family portraits
6. From private portrait to the Gallery

A reader who looks up

Elena's hands rest on an opened page. One finger appears to hold her place, as if she has paused in reading. She leans back, her body slanting through the canvas rather than sitting upright for a formal likeness. Her eyes, however, meet the viewer. The Gallery describes the resulting encounter as informal and somewhat inquisitive. It can feel as if she has been interrupted, but the painting does not document an actual interruption. Degas has constructed a pose that makes us sense one. ^[1]

The chair's curved upholstery surrounds Elena. Pink and red passages rise behind her dark hair and repeat near her arms, warming the picture around the cool shawl. The shawl spreads broadly across her shoulders and torso; it can be read almost as a second surface laid over the black dress. The clothing is comparatively simple, with no jewellery or conspicuous accessory. Degas lets fabric, seat and gaze set the tone rather than relying on an ornate display of rank. ^[1]

The owner suggests the black dress may signal mourning for Elena's uncle Achille, whose funeral brought Degas to Naples in 1875. This is a possibility tied to family chronology, not a proven account of why she wore it. Degas had also visited Naples with his dying father in the winter of 1873–74. The portrait's approximate date and the two trips do not prove the location or occasion of the sitting. The page can give that context while preserving the Gallery's uncertainty. ^[1]

A portrait changed as it was made

Technical study at the National Gallery shows that Degas first planned a different turn of the head and body. Elena initially faced more to the right, with a more distant expression. In the completed portrait Degas redirected her face toward us and moved her left shoulder to bring the upper body forward. He also increased the volume of her hair. These are specific observed changes beneath and within the paint, not guesses based on a blurred reproduction. ^[1]

Some traces of the earlier design remain visible. The Gallery points to an old shoulder line beneath the shawl and a tiny white touch marking the hairpin. The alteration changes our relationship to the sitter. Had her gaze stayed farther away, we would be more clearly spectators of a woman absorbed in her own space. With the turned face, the encounter becomes mutual, while the book still suggests the activity she has paused. The image's apparent spontaneity therefore emerged through revision. ^[1]

The degree of finish also changes across the canvas. Degas attends closely to face and hands; the background at upper right is sketched broadly. That difference directs the eye to Elena without requiring a uniformly polished room. It is safer to describe this range of finish than to call the whole work unfinished. The National Gallery treats it as the completed portrait, and the technical evidence describes deliberate changes within that completed work. ^[1]

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Elena and other family portraits

The Gallery says Degas painted Elena with her younger sister Camilla around 1865–68. In that earlier image she also looks directly toward us. He painted the sisters again with their mother around 1876. This portrait belongs to a continuing family subject, but it has its own arrangement: one person, a chair and reading material. The earlier and later pictures help establish that Degas returned to relatives as models without making them interchangeable illustrations of a single moment. ^[1]

Elena was about twenty years younger than Degas. The Gallery estimates that she was around twenty when this portrait was made. That age and family connection can be stated from the owner's research. Her precise thoughts as she looks up cannot. Words such as wary or challenging describe a viewer's response to the gaze; they are not testimony from the sitter. The warm upholstery and relaxed pose complicate any simple reading of her expression as hostility. ^[1]

From private portrait to the Gallery

The National Gallery traces the painting through the dealer Vincent Imberti and Paul Rosenberg before its purchase by the Courtauld Fund in 1926. It was later transferred from the Tate Gallery to the National Gallery in 1961. The inventory number NG4167 identifies the exact work now shown in London, regardless of variations in its short title. ^[1]

Look from Elena's hand on the page up through the pale shawl to the face, then back to the loosely brushed wall. The movement of our attention mirrors the portrait's tension between an individual caught in an ordinary action and a carefully arranged image. Degas's revisions made Elena face the viewer; the opened book keeps the sense of a life beyond the sitting. ^[1]

References

1. The National Gallery, London, Portrait of Elena Carafa, NG4167, object record and in-depth essay; family context, date, medium, dimensions, technical changes and provenance. View source
2. Edgar Degas, Portrait of Elena Carafa, about 1875, oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London, NG4167. Collection record. View source

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