René De Gas, the Artist's Brother

René De Gas, the Artist's Brother by Edgar Degas French, 1834-1917, is an intimate early portrait dating from 1861-1862. This arresting image, captured early in the artist’s career, demonstrates his emerging mastery of printmaking techniques. The piece is executed as a soft ground etching on cream wove paper, a medium that allows for a distinctive, subtly textured line quality resembling a chalk or crayon drawing rather than the crisp incision often associated with standard etching. René was one of Degas’s three younger siblings and a frequent subject for the artist during this developmental phase, providing a personal window into the family life of the emerging master.

Dating from the beginning of the 1860s, this work predates Degas’s full immersion in Impressionism and his famous depictions of dancers and Parisian street life. Instead, the composition emphasizes psychological depth and classical rigor, hallmarks of his early training rooted in traditional academic art. The work created in France displays a careful study of form and contour, focusing the viewer’s attention entirely on the contemplative expression and controlled pose of the sitter. Degas (1834-1917) often experimented with various printmaking methods during this era, utilizing the inherent spontaneity of soft ground etching to lend a delicate, atmospheric quality to the portrait.

This significant example of the artist's graphic oeuvre is housed within the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As one of the critical early prints detailing the artist’s family, it showcases the skill and ambition of the young French artist before he became synonymous with modern life. Today, high-resolution images of such historic nineteenth-century masterworks are often found in the public domain, ensuring wide access to Degas’s significant contribution to printmaking.