Michel Schulman, expert in 19th and 20th century painting, announces that he has authenticated a new painting by Edgar Degas dating from his Italian period, when the artist traveled to Italy between 1856 and 1860. The painting has been included in the Edgar Degas digital catalog raisonné created by the expert. It belongs to a private collection.
The portrait painted around 1858-1859, of rather large size (153 x 105 cm), called Young Italian Woman, perhaps represents the Countess of Castiglione. The young woman takes her place in the center of the composition, in a sober outfit, sitting and meditating. If the character is bathed in light, the setting is plunged into a certain darkness. We can still see cross-shaped sabers in the back wall, suggesting a weapons room. The painting is very sketched and marks Degas’ transition to modernity when he returned to Paris.
Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Young Italian woman – Presumed portrait of the Countess of Castiglioneoil on canvas, 153 × 105 cm, c. 1859.
© DR / Private collection
Michel Schulman collaborated with the Emmebi Diagnostica Artistica laboratory in Rome and the University of Bologna to authenticate the painting. The stylistic analysis of the signature, the examination of the canvas and the stretcher converge towards this attribution. The painting comes from the Antonio La Rocca collection, established between 1940 and 1970, bringing together paintings by Italian painters in Paris. For the expert, this is an additional argument for the authorship of the work.
If the authenticity seems likely, the identity of the character is less convincing. Indeed, very few clues indicate that the subject is the Countess of Castiglione. Born in 1837, her name Virginia Oldoini, this Italian aristocrat was sent to France in 1855 to plead Italy’s cause to Napoleon III. She then became his mistress until she was disgraced and left for Turin between 1858 and 1861. It was at this time that she could have met Degas, who was staying there at the same time.
A detail in the painting shows the young woman with a “digitus rigidus” or stiff index finger. Pattern that can be found in several photographs of Virginia Oldoini by Pierre-Louis Pierson. Their collaboration resulted in more than 500 photos, making her the most photographed woman in Paris. It is therefore also entirely possible that Degas was inspired by a photograph. If this turns out to be Virginia Oldoini, it would be one of the only portraits from her youth and one of the few unofficial ones. According to the expert, it is a psychological portrait, much more than physical, which is why the setting would take place in a weapons room.
Degas, during his trip to Naples, Rome and Italy, painted several paintings. Most dealt with full-length or bust portraits of the Italian type, but also family portraits as was the case for the portrait of The Bellelli family. Michel Schulman had already authenticated a pastel by Degas in 2024 named Praise of makeup.
