Description
The Cellist Pilet shows a musician in profile, turned to the left, seated at a table with his hands folded; in front of him lie white sheets of music and a bow, and the neck of a cello rises diagonally across the centre. At the right stand two dark upright forms, and above hangs a framed drawing of a crowd of men in dark suits. As a canvas painting this is a landscape-format, quiet interior taken before the rehearsal. The original is oil on canvas and is held in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris under the inventory number RF 2582. We make it as a hand-painted work on linen, in sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm or to your own measurements, and you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | The Cellist Pilet |
| Other titles: | Le Violoncelliste Pilet |
| Painter: | Edgar Degas (1834–1917) |
| Period of execution: | the 1860s |
| Original size: | 50 cm x 61 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Impressionism |
| Located at: | Musée d’Orsay, Paris (inv. no. RF 2582) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on linen canvas, 8 sizes from 50 x 40 cm to 150 x 120 cm, custom sizes on request |
The Cellist Pilet – Edgar Degas
Who is shown?
A single musician, and this time he is named in the title already – Pilet, a cellist in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra. He sits in profile, turned to the left, and looks past us to somewhere beyond the edge of the canvas. He wears a dark suit, a white shirt and a black bow; his hair is thinning at the crown and he has thick side-whiskers. His hands are folded on the table, the fingers loosely interlaced, and a ring shows on one of them. This is not a pose held for a portrait but the attitude of a man waiting to begin.
What is on the canvas?
The format is landscape. The middle is taken by a table covered with a brown-ochre cloth and loaded with white sheets of music; a bow lies across them. From the lower right corner the neck of a cello rises diagonally, with the scroll at its end, while the body of the instrument stays a dark mass at the edge. At the right stand two tall dark upright forms – a chair back and a stand – closing the right third of the scene. Above, on the wall, hangs a framed drawing in grey tones: a crowd of men in dark suits and a few pale figures, like a sketch of an audience. Below it is pale olive wallpaper with small blue and white flowers. At the far left is a window with a curtain and pale light.
Why does this particular scene matter?
Because it is the portrait of a profession rather than of a face. Everything around the man speaks of music – the sheets, the bow, the neck of the instrument, the drawing of an audience on the wall – and he himself is not playing. Degas caught the moment before the work rather than the work itself, which was unusual then: a musician’s portrait would normally have shown the hand on the strings. Here the instrument is present as an object rather than as an action, and the musician as a man rather than as a performer.
What does the scene mean?
Composure before the start. The scene is quiet, almost without colour apart from the warm brown of the table and the olive of the wall. Impressionism for Degas always meant a person caught mid-occupation rather than arranged for the gaze; an impressionist painting of this kind therefore reads as a moment nobody else would have noticed. As wall art it carries a room through mood rather than colour, and works well where people stay a while.
The motif among Degas’s works
Music returns often in Degas. Lorenzo Pagans and Auguste De Gas puts a guitarist and a listener in a dark room and is the nearest relative of this canvas; The Orchestra at the Opera shows the same world whole, with the strings in the foreground and the stage above. Hilaire de Gas is a stern portrait with no object at all and shows how Degas painted when there was no profession to display. How he looked at the musicians in the pit below the stage is shown by Ballet at the Paris Opéra at the Art Institute of Chicago, and how he looked at himself by the Self-Portrait in the same collection.
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. Every one of our canvases is made layer after layer, and in this scene the right third is the hardest part: two large dark areas have to stay distinguishable from each other and from the background, or they merge into a black hole. The other demanding part is the white sheets of music, which must be bright but not empty – lines and creases still show inside them. 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: 70 x 60 cm. The 61 x 51 cm size is effectively the size of the original, which measures 50 x 61 cm, and is meant for someone who wants exactly that. The 50 x 40 and 61 x 51 cm sizes are for a smaller room or a hallway. The 70 x 60 and 80 x 70 cm sizes are the most usual choice above a chest of drawers or a desk; at them the profile and the hands already read well. The 90 x 75 and 100 x 80 cm sizes are for a larger wall in a living room or a music room. The 120 x 100 cm size belongs above a sofa, and at 150 x 120 cm we are at the sizes where a large painting puts the musician close to life size. Measure your chosen size on the wall with a paper cut-out first; with a landscape format the mistake is usually made in the width. 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 your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportions of the scene, so that the neck of the cello keeps its diagonal and the dark forms at the right do not fall off the canvas; 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, 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 is Pilet?
A cellist in the orchestra of the Paris Opéra. Degas named him in the title, which is rare among his models.
Why is he not playing?
Because the scene is caught before the rehearsal. His hands are folded on the table and the instrument leans against it.
What is the diagonal form across the centre?
The neck of the cello, with the scroll at its end. The body stays a dark mass at the lower right edge.
What hangs on the wall?
A framed drawing in grey tones with a crowd of men in dark suits and a few pale figures – like a sketch of an audience.
Why is there no exact year in the table?
Because the record gives it only to the decade. We would rather write the decade than invent a year.
Where is the original located?
In the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, under the inventory number RF 2582.
How large is the original?
50 by 61 cm, so wider than it is tall. Our 61 x 51 cm size is effectively the same.
Is this a print?
No. The work is painted by hand in oil colours; the brushstrokes are visible and can be felt.
Which size should I choose?
Above a chest of drawers usually 70 x 60 cm, for the impression of the original 61 x 51 cm. The size guide is above.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the proportions of the scene while doing it.
Is it suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for a musician or for someone who likes quiet interiors. 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 musician in profile with folded hands, sheets of music and a bow on the table, the neck of a cello diagonally across the centre
- Original: Edgar Degas, an oil painting on canvas, 50 x 61 cm, Musée d’Orsay in Paris (RF 2582)
- Ours: hand-painted in oil, eight sizes from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm, stretched and framed on request
- Worth knowing: Degas named the sitter in the title – a rarity for him, since he almost never named his models
