Portrait of Elena Carafa

Elena Carafa was Degas's first cousin, about 20 years younger than him. Her mother, a duchess in Naples, was the youngest sister of the painter's father. He was in Naples in the winter of 1873 to 1874, with his dying father, and again in 1875 for an uncle's funeral, and the portrait belongs to those years. Elena does not sit up straight. She sinks back into a flowered armchair in a black mourning dress with a pale green shawl, her hand resting on a book or magazine, and looks up as if someone has just walked in. Technical examination shows that he first had her turned away, gazing into the distance, and only later swung her face round toward us. The earlier line of her shoulder can still be traced under the shawl.