Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, 'Young Spartans Exercising', about 1860

Young Spartans Exercising

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas

Room 41

About the work

Overview

The painting illustrates a passage from the Life of Lycurgus by the Roman historian Plutarch, which describes how Spartan girls were ordered to engage in exercise – including running, wrestling and throwing the discus and javelin – and to challenge boys. However, this may be a scene of courtship rather than competition, as aspects of the girls' hairstyles and poses correspond with accounts of such rituals in Plutarch’s writing. In the middle distance a group of women, mothers of the children, surround the elderly Lycurgus, who drew up the rules of Sparta. Beyond them is the city of Sparta, overlooked on the left by Mount Taygetus, from which unwanted Spartan infants were thrown.

Degas abandoned his first attempt at the painting (now in the Art Institute, Chicago) and made substantial changes to this second version as he tried to modernise it, replacing the classical features of the adolescents with more contemporary faces. The picture had great significance for him, and he kept it in his studio all his life.

In-depth

In April 1859 Edgar Degas returned to Paris, having spent the previous three years in Italy studying and copying old masters. Still in his twenties, he now sought to establish himself as a successful painter. At the time, history painting was the most highly regarded genre of art, particularly if a picture was well-received at the annual Salon in Paris. During the first half of the 1860s Degas produced five large-scale history paintings, of which this is one. However, it was never shown at the Salon and remained in his studio for the rest of his life.

Degas carried out further revisions on this painting around 1879–80 and may even have continued working on it further (it was never varnished). Writing in 1924, his friend Daniel Halévy recalled: ‘Later in his life, Degas was very attached to this work; he drew it forth from the secret reserves in which he concealed his lifetime’s labours and placed it clearly in view on an easel in front of which he would often stop – a notable honour and a sign of predilection.’ The caricaturist Jean-Louis Forain similarly recalled: ‘the fondness that [Degas] had, in his later years, for the old picture that he [had] placed on an easel.’

Clearly, the painting had great significance for Degas, not least perhaps as a reminder both to himself and to studio visitors that he was more than just a ‘painter of dancers’. For Degas, the painting was a statement – even a manifesto – that spoke of his early commitment to history painting. His decision to become a history painter was inspired in part by Ingres, who on meeting Degas in 1855 advised him to ‘draw lines young man, many lines, from memory or from nature’. However, Degas also looked to the great Romantic artist, Delacroix. Degas’s history paintings, and much of his subsequent work, built upon the influence of both Ingres and Delacroix, as he combined the careful preparation, anatomical accuracy and precise draughtsmanship of the former with the dynamism and colour of the latter.

For Young Spartans Exercising Degas chose a well-known anecdote about Spartan education, but one seldom taken up by artists. In his Life of Lycurgus, the Roman historian Plutarch described how the Spartan legislator ordered girls to engage in exercise – including running, wrestling and throwing the discus and javelin – and to ‘good-naturedly’ challenge boys. Paraphrasing Plutarch, Degas wrote in one of his notebooks: ‘young girls and boys wrestling in the plane-tree grove, under the eye of the aged Lycurgus, beside the mothers.’ Degas did not rely exclusively on Plutarch for his image of Sparta and read widely on the topic, including Abbé Barthélémy’s Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Ancient Greece (1787), which further embellished Plutarch’s account. Degas was also familiar with accounts of current archaeological research into ancient Greece, particularly Ernest Béule’s Studies on the Peloponnese (1855), which praised the values of Spartan society, particularly its celebration of youthful strength and beauty.

The painting shows the open plains of Sparta with no sign of the plane-tree grove noted by Degas. In the middle distance a group of women, the mothers of the children, surround the elderly Lycurgus, who drew up the laws of Sparta. Beyond them in the distance is the city of Sparta, which is overlooked on the left by Mount Taygetus, from which unwanted Spartan infants were thrown. The foreground is dominated by two opposing groups. Four girls appear to be taunting five nude boys, although it has been suggested that this is a scene of courtship rather than competition, as aspects of the girls’ hairstyles and poses correspond with accounts of such rituals in Plutarch’s writing. The lunging gesture of one of the young women might be one of enticement, not aggression. However, the picture’s significance perhaps lies less in its literary sources than in the tension between Degas’s classicism and his modernity, in particular his realisation that he could not present an image of an idealised classical past forever frozen in time.

Degas also realised the subject would provide him with an opportunity to display his skill in depicting the nude. However, he had difficulties with the overall composition in his first full-scale attempt at the painting (now in The Art Institute, Chicago) and abandoned it. Although less finished, that grisaille picture includes a more detailed landscape and a classical building in the middle distance, which was removed in the second version. Both versions include the two frieze-like groups in the foreground, for which Degas made numerous preparatory drawings. In the sketches and the painting, we can see his lifelong fascination with bodies caught mid-motion or in gesture. The array of legs belonging to the four girls – ten instead of the expected eight – anticipate Degas’s later ballet studies and even Futurism’s proto-cinematic depiction of movement; the boys’ varied poses are not far removed from the young ballerinas and jockeys who would soon preoccupy the artist. When he attempted to ‘update’ the picture, Degas replaced the classical features of the adolescents with more contemporary faces.

In his depiction of the girls and boys, Degas has subtly reversed gender conventions, perhaps to emphasise the equal status of the young Spartan women. While their taut bodies form a tight group, and one points aggressively (or perhaps beckons) towards the boys, the youths themselves are more relaxed as they stretch and lounge. One even crouches on all fours, adopting a pose Degas would later use in his pictures of women who worked as prostitutes. This pose, which hints at an animality that was also an aspect of Degas’s art, perhaps registers the artist’s awareness of contemporary theories of evolution and degeneration. Sleek classical athleticism has been replaced by a much more ambiguous depiction of these young bodies.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Young Spartans Exercising
Artist: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas
Artist dates: 1834 - 1917
Date made: about 1860
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 109.5 × 155 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1924
Inventory number: NG3860
Location: Room 41
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 18th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

5th Impressionist Exhibition, Paris, April 1880 (No. 33). Degas Studio Sale, Paris, 6/8 May, 1918 (lot 20). Jacques Seligmann Sale (Works by Degas), New York, 27 January, 1921 (lot 67), reproduced, bought by Durand‐Ruel, who sold it to Bernheim Jeune, Paris. Goupil Gallery Salon, London, October–December 1923 (No. 87). Purchased from the Goupil Gallery by the Trustees of the Courtauld Fund, and presented, 1924. At the Tate Gallery; Samuel Courtauld Memorial Exhibition there, 1948 (No. 21). Transferred from the Tate Gallery, 1950. Degas Exhibition, Edinburgh. 1952 (No. 4). Courtauld Collection Exhibition, Paris, 1955 (No. 18).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Heroìnes

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

8 March 2011 - 5 June 2011
2011

Degas and the Nude

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

9 October 2011 - 5 February 2012

Musée d'Orsay

12 March 2012 - 1 July 2012
2015

Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art

Minneapolis Institute of Art

18 October 2015 - 10 January 2016
2016

Painters' Paintings: From Freud to Van Dyck

The National Gallery (London)

23 June 2016 - 4 September 2016
2018

Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet to Cézanne

The National Gallery (London)

17 September 2018 - 20 January 2019
2019

Degas at the Opéra

Musée d'Orsay

23 September 2019 - 19 January 2020

National Gallery of Art (Washington DC)

1 March 2020 - 12 October 2020

Bibliography

1890

G. Moore, 'Degas: The Painter of Modern Life', Magazine of Art, XIII, 1890
1933

G. Jeanniot, 'Souvenirs sur Degas. II', Revue universelle, LV, 1933, pp. 152-74
1946

P.-A. Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre, Paris 1946
1952

D. Martelli, 'Gli Impressionisti', in A. Boschetto (ed.), Scritti d'arte di Diego Martelli, Florence 1952, pp. 98-110
1954

D. Cooper, The Courtauld Collection: A Catalogue and Introduction, London 1954
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1958

J.S. Boggs, 'Degas Notebooks at the Bibliothèque Nationale II: Group B (1858-1861)', The Burlington Magazine, C/663, 1958, pp. 196-205
1964

P. Pool, 'The History Pictures of Edgar Degas and Their Background', Apollo, LXXX/32, 1964, pp. 306-11
1966

W.M. Ittmann, 'A Drawing by Edgar Degas for the Petite Filles Spartiates Provoquant des Garçons', Register of the Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, III/7, 1966, pp. 38-49
1967

J.S. Boggs, Drawings by Degas (exh. cat. City Art Museum of St Louis, 20 January - 26 February 1967; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 10 March - 30 April 1967; Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, 18 May - 25 June 1967), Saint Louis 1967
1969

D. Burnell, 'Degas and His Young Spartans Exercising', Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, IV, 1969, pp. 49-65
1970

Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
1974

J. Lassaigne and F. Minervino, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Degas, Paris 1974
1976

T. Reff, The Notebooks of Edgar Degas. A Catalogue of the 38 Notebooks in the Bibliothèque Nationale and other Collections, Oxford 1976
1977

A.B. Price, Puvis de Chavannes: A Study of the Easel Paintings and a Catalogue of the Painted Works, Phd Thesis, Yale University 1977
1977

N. Broude, 'Degas's Misogyny', Art Bulletin, LIX/1, 1977, pp. 95-107
1979

I. Dunlop, Degas, London 1979
1982

K. Roberts, Degas, Oxford 1982
1984

R. Brettell, Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago (exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago, 19 July - 23 September 1984), Chicago 1984
1985

C. Salus, 'Degas' Young Spartans Exercising', Art Bulletin, LXVII/3, 1985, pp. 501-6
1986

D. Sutton, Edgar Degas: Life and Work, New York 1986
1986

L. Nochlin, 'Letters: Degas's Young Spartans Exercising', Art Bulletin, LXVIII/3, 1986, pp. 486-8
1986

C.S. Moffett, 'Disarray and Disappointment', in The New Painting: Impressionism 1874-1886, Oxford 1986, pp. 293-309
1987

R. Thomson, The Private Degas, London 1987
1988

R. Gordon and A. Forge, Degas, New York 1988
1988

R. Thomson, Degas: The Nudes, London 1988
1988

N. Broude, 'Edgar Degas and French Feminism, circa 1880: "The Young Spartans", the Brothel Monotypes and the Bathers Revisited', Art Bulletin, LXX/4, 1988, pp. 640-59
1988

E. Camesasca, 'A proposito di Edgar Degas', Critica d'arte, LIII/17, 1988, pp. 57-64
1988

M.K. Meller, 'Exercises in and Around Degas's Classrooms, Part I', The Burlington Magazine, CXXX/1020, 1988, pp. 198-215
1988

J.S. Boggs et al., Degas (exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 9 February - 16 May 1988; National Gallery of Canada, 6 June - 28 August 1988; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27 September 1988 - 8 January 1989), New York 1988
1989

D. Druick, 'La petite danseuse et les criminels: Degas moraliste?', in Musée d'Orsay, Degas Inédit: Actes du Colloque Degas, Musée d'Orsay, 18-21 avril 1988, Paris 1989, pp. 225-50
1989

C. de Couëssin, 'Technique, transformations dans les toiles de Degas des collections du musée d'Orsay', in Musée d'Orsay, Degas Inédit: Actes du Colloque Degas, Musée d'Orsay, 18-21 avril 1988, Paris 1989, pp. 145-59
1990

F. Milner, Degas, London 1990
1992

N. Broude, 'Edgar Degas and French Femininism circa 1880', in N. Broude and M.D. Garrard (eds), The Expanding Discourse: Femininism and Art History, New York 1992, pp. 269-80
1994

G. Tinterow and H. Loyrette, Origins of Impressionism, (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994), New York 1994
1995

A. Callen, The Spectacular Body, Science, Method and Meaning in the Work of Degas, New Haven 1995
1996

R. Berson, The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874-1886: Documentation, San Francisco 1996
1996

J.S. Boggs, Degas, Chicago 1996
1996

W. Davies, 'Gender', in R.S. Nelson and R. Shiff (eds), Critical Terms for Art History, Chicago 1996, pp. 220-33
1996

R. Brettell, 'Thomas Eakins and the Male Nude in French Vanguard Painting 1850-1890', in D. Bolger and S. Cash (eds), Thomas Eakins and the Swimming Picture, Fort Worth 1996, pp. 80-97
1997

Glasgow Museums, The Birth of Impressionism: From Constable to Monet (exh. cat. McLellan Galleries, 23 May - 7 September 1997), Glasgow 1997
2000

B. Thomson, Impressionism: Origins, Practice, Reception, London 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

T. Llorens et al., Forma: El ideal clásico en el arte moderno (exh. cat. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, 9 October 2001 - 13 January 2002), Madrid 2001
2003

M. Lucy, 'Reading the Animal in Degas's Young Spartans', Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, II/2, 2003, pp. 1-18
2004

D. Bomford et al., Degas (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 10 November 2004 - 30 January 2005), London 2004
2006

P. Kaina, 'Illegible Bodies: Edgar Degas's "Young Spartans Exercising', Object, IX, 2006, pp. 26-45
2007

A. Green, French Paintings of Childhood and Adolescence, 1848-1886, Aldershot 2007
2007

W. Hofmann, Degas: A Dialogue of Difference, London 2007
2007

R. Thomson, 'Degas et Henner: Comparaisons et contrastes', La Revue du Musée d'Orsay, 24, 2007, pp. 6-19
2007

C. Sisi et al., Nel segno di Ingres: Luigi Mussini e l'Accademia in Europa nell'Ottocento (exh. cat. Complesso museale Santa Maria della Scala, 6 October 2007 - 6 January 2008), Milan 2007

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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