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Your galleryYoung Spartan Girls Challenging Boys
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Follow the outstretched arms between the two groups, then notice how drawn outlines remain visible through the thin brown paint.
Before becoming known for modern Parisian subjects, Degas pursued history painting. This unfinished, largely monochrome study concerns the physical training of girls and boys in ancient Sparta. He set it aside and began another version, now in London’s National Gallery, rather than bringing this canvas to a polished finish.
Oil on canvas · 97.4 × 140 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys
- Artist
- Edgar Degas
- Date
- c. 1860
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 97.4 × 140 cm (38 5/16 × 55 1/8 in.); Framed: 130.2 × 162.6 × 11.8 cm (51 1/4 × 64 × 4 5/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.