The Artist's Cousin, Probably Mrs. William Bell (Mathilde Musson, 1841–1878)

The Artist's Cousin, Probably Mrs. William Bell (Mathilde Musson, 1841–1878) by Edgar Degas, executed in 1873, captures an intimate likeness of a family member. Classified as a drawing, this portrait utilizes the medium of pastel applied to a support of green wove paper. Over the century and a half since its creation, the original paper’s color has reacted to its environment, causing it to darken to a deep, warm brown tone, subtly altering the intended color balance and mood of the composition. Degas frequently employed pastel during the 1870s, valuing its immediate applicability and ability to achieve the richness of painting while retaining the spontaneity of drawing.

The subject, Mathilde Musson, was the artist’s cousin and a relative from his extended Creole family connections in Louisiana. This familial relationship likely afforded Degas the necessary intimacy to create such an unforced portrait of a woman in quiet contemplation. Characteristic of his Realist tendency, the piece avoids the formal stiffness often seen in academic portraits of the era. The technique highlights the contours of the face and the volume of the hair through short, deliberate strokes of dry pigment, focusing intensely on the subject’s psychology rather than her social standing.

As a significant example of Degas’s dedicated approach to portraits, this work bridges his classical training with the Impressionist focus on everyday life and spontaneous moments. The piece offers scholars insight into the artist’s private circle before his later renown for depicting the theatrical world of dancers. This important drawing is part of the extensive holdings of 19th-century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its inclusion in such a prestigious collection underscores its importance in the artist’s oeuvre. Given its established prominence, high-resolution images and prints of this work are often made available through public domain initiatives, ensuring widespread access to the master’s technique.