Description
Edmondo and Thérèse Morbilli shows a married couple in a room. The woman sits on a red sofa, turned towards us, in a wide cream crinoline with a bright red shawl over her shoulders and a white collar; in her lap she holds a folded fan, and she looks straight out at us. The man stands at the right behind, by the arm of the sofa, in a brown-grey coat, bearded, and he too looks out at us. Behind them is a dark green patterned wallpaper, and at the right a lighter ochre wall. The original is an oil painting on canvas and is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington under the accession number 1963.10.125. We make it as a hand-painted work, in sizes from 30 x 35 to 100 x 110 cm or to your own measurements, and you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Edmondo and Thérèse Morbilli |
| Other titles: | M. et Mme Edmondo Morbilli |
| Painter: | Edgar Degas (1834–1917) |
| Year of execution: | circa 1865 |
| Original size: | 117.2 cm x 89.7 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Impressionism |
| Located at: | National Gallery of Art, Washington (acc. no. 1963.10.125) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on linen canvas, 8 sizes from 30 x 35 cm to 100 x 110 cm, custom sizes on request |
Edmondo and Thérèse Morbilli – Edgar Degas
Who is shown?
A married couple, both named in the title. The woman sits at the front on a red sofa and takes up almost the whole lower half of the canvas: the cream crinoline spills over the seat, a bright red shawl lies across her shoulders, a white collar at her throat, a folded fan in her hands. Her hair is dark, parted in the middle. The man stands at the right behind, leaning against the edge of the sofa, in a brown-grey coat, red-bearded, dark-eyed. Both of them look out at us, and neither looks at the other.
What is on the canvas?
The scene is upright and dark, except in two places. Behind the woman is a dark green wallpaper with vertical stripes and small flowers; at the right a lighter ochre wall opens up, with a barely visible drawn figure on it. At the lower right the red lacquered back of the sofa rises with its scrolled arm. Behind at the left is the corner of a table with a pale bluish cloth. The range of colour is restrained — green, brown, ochre — and the only strong colour in the scene is the red shawl. The right-hand side of the canvas is painted far more thinly than the left.
Why does this particular scene matter?
Because it is a double portrait in which the couple are not together. She is in the middle, lit, painted through, and turned straight towards us; he is pushed to the edge, behind the furniture, and his body merges with the wall behind him. There is neither a glance nor a touch between them. That is not a failure of arrangement — Degas always built relations between people out of where each one stands, and here the answer is clearer than any expression on a face could be. The second thing is the state of the canvas: the work stayed in the painter’s studio until his death, and the right half is visibly thinner than the left.
What does the scene mean?
The portrait of a marriage rather than of two faces. Impressionism for Degas never meant light but exactness — including exactness about what is missing between people. An impressionist painting of this kind therefore reads as an observation and not as a tribute. As wall art it asks for a calm wall that is not too cool; the red shawl is the one strong colour and it sets the tone of the whole room. A canvas painting for a dining room or a sitting room suits it well, because it is large and quiet at the same time.
The motif among Degas’s works
Degas painted family portraits all his life, and always in rooms rather than in a studio. Madame René De Gas is the portrait of a woman from his own family, Hilaire de Gas the portrait of his grandfather, and The Bellelli Family the largest of them, built in the same way on the distances between people. This work is catalogued in the Degas catalogue raisonné as MS 1640, and a second, later version of the same couple is held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MS 723.
How is our hand-painted version made?
With a brush and oil colours, not a printer, and here the technique of the original is the same as ours: oil on canvas. Every one of our canvases is made layer after layer, and in this motif the balance between the two sides is the hardest part. The left half is dense and worked through, the right thin and translucent; painted as densely, the man steps forward and the scene loses its point. So we build the right side with thinner layers and let the ground show through. The other demanding part is the red shawl: it is painted with quick, long strokes and has to stay soft rather than hard. Every reproduction is made afresh and no two copies are ever quite the same, because the hand does not repeat the same stroke twice; every hand-painted copy is therefore its own. For this work we have no photographs of our finished canvases, so we show and describe none here. The photograph of your canvas reaches you before dispatch.
Which size for which wall?
If you do not know which: 80 x 90 cm. The original measures 117.2 x 89.7 cm and is therefore fairly large; our 100 x 110 cm size comes nearest to it in size, while in proportion the nearest are 30 x 35 and 60 x 70 cm, because our sizes run noticeably wider than the original. The 30 x 35 and 43 x 47 cm sizes are for a narrow space, where the man at the right behind already becomes hard to make out. The 50 x 55 and 60 x 70 cm sizes are the middle choice above a chest of drawers. The 70 x 80 and 80 x 90 cm sizes are the most frequent decisions for a living or dining room. The 90 x 100 cm size is for a larger wall, and at 100 x 110 cm we are at the sizes where a large painting really breathes and the figures stand close to life size. Measure your chosen size on the wall with a paper cut-out first; with an upright format the mistake is usually made in the height. None of the sizes is held in stock as a finished item: every copy is made to order and stays a single piece.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the eight sizes suits you, or if you want the original’s proportion, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportions of the scene, so that the man at the right behind stays whole and the crinoline below is not cut off; that is our painting made to order. Every copy is delivered stretched on a wooden bar, ready to hang. For the frame, use our 3D application: on this motif it shows every moulding profile we carry, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – it is for choosing a frame and nothing else. If you want to see how the work looks on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every copy is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose; for the largest sizes the time is usually at the upper end. We send it stretched and protected for transport, framed if you chose a frame, to sixteen countries in the European Union, without customs duties. You receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch, and our returns policy applies to every order. The whole range is in the Edgar Degas gallery, and the painter’s life is described in our article about Edgar Degas.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the sitters?
The Morbilli couple. The title in the catalogue of works gives them as Monsieur and Madame Edmondo Morbilli.
Why do they not look at each other?
The scene does not explain it, but it shows it very plainly: she is in the middle and turned towards us, he is at the edge and behind the furniture. The relation is expressed by the arrangement.
What is the woman holding?
A folded fan, resting in her lap.
What is in the background?
Dark green wallpaper with vertical stripes behind the woman, a lighter ochre wall at the right with a barely visible drawn figure, and the red back of the sofa at the lower right.
Why does the right side look less finished?
Because it is painted more thinly. The work stayed in the painter’s studio until his death, and the difference between the two halves is visible.
Where is the original located?
In the National Gallery of Art in Washington, under the accession number 1963.10.125.
How large is the original?
117.2 by 89.7 cm. Our 100 x 110 cm size comes nearest to it in size.
Why is the year given as “circa”?
Because that is how the catalogue of works gives it: circa 1865. Where the year is not exactly settled, we do not settle it either.
Are your sizes in the same proportion as the original?
No – ours run noticeably wider. In proportion the nearest are 30 x 35 and 60 x 70 cm; if you want the original’s proportion, we paint it to your measurements.
Is this a print?
No. The work is painted by hand in oil colours; the brushstrokes are visible and can be felt.
Is it suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who likes portraits and quiet, darker rooms. Because every copy is made to order, allow for the making time; if you would rather leave the choice to them, there is our gift voucher.
- Subject: a married couple in a room – she sits at the front in a cream crinoline with a red shawl, he stands at the edge behind on the right, both looking out at us and neither at the other
- Original: Edgar Degas, an oil painting on canvas, 117.2 x 89.7 cm, National Gallery of Art in Washington (1963.10.125)
- Ours: hand-painted in oil, eight sizes from 30 x 35 to 100 x 110 cm, stretched and framed on request
- Worth knowing: Degas painted the same couple a second time; the other version is in Boston and there they sit close together – in this one they are apart
