Arabesque on the right leg with outstretched left arm

Mediums: pigmented wax, metal fittings, cork, wood.
Location: The Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge University (the UK).

Preparing the precious exhibits of the great artist for an upcoming exhibition on the occasion of the centenary of his death, the Museum’s restorers found in X-ray photographs of three of the rarest sculptures that they retained their shape thanks to a rather unusual “filling”. Degas, who did not plan to exhibit his mini-sculptures, used matches, corks, wire and other hard material for the frames. A very complex figure depicting an arabesque is held on one leg precisely thanks to such a peculiar technique. For Degas, the plasticity of the movement and the difficult angles of its image were important, and those are difficult to achieve with soft wax.