202:, art critic Carol Salus hypothesises that the work "has traditionally been interpreted as representing young women challenging young men to wrestle or race, is instead a presentation of Spartan courtship rites". This position was challenged in the same publication the following year, with Linda Nochlin arguing that the work could encompass a variety of meanings, and by referring to Degas' own reluctance to explain the work in any great detail, allows the viewer to interpret the work to their own merit. This view is echoed by Christopher Riopelle, curator of 19th-century painting at the National Gallery, who in 2004, stated that the painting "starts as a traditional historical painting, closely based on classical accounts and meticulous research. It ends as something much more enigmatic."
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and even their number; this last change resulted in the strange image of the four women in the foreground having ten legs among them. Degas' revisitation of the faces of the young people is often mentioned in art criticism, as it is believed the artist changed the features of the youths from the classic handsome Greek ideal, to a more urban modernistic look. The French art historian André Lemoisne, was first to note on this fact, remarking that the subjects had a contemporary
Parisian look, more akin to the "gamins of Montmartre". More recent critics agree with Lemoisne, believing Degas was attempting to "update" his painting.
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175:. This version is much less finished, but it shows a vastly different background, with a more detailed landscape and a large architectural structure, around which the characters in the background are resting. The work also shows how Degas changed the number of foreground figures with an additional boy on the right of the painting.
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The painting depicts as its subject matter two groups of adolescents, five girls (one of which is almost entirely obscured by the others) and five boys, with the girls apparently taunting or beckoning the boys. The girls are positioned on the left side of the painting and the boys on the right, while
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The painting was begun in 1860 with Degas returning to the canvas to rework the piece over the following years, though it remained unfinished upon the artist's death. X-rays taken of the work during the early 21st century have revealed that Degas changed the positioning of the youths, their faces,
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described the unfinished work as "one of the most classicizing paintings imaginable"; though after
Martelli's remarks, Degas returned to the painting and removed the classicizing architecture.
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youth exercising and challenging each other in some way. The work was purchased by the trustees of the
Courtauld fund in 1924 and is now in the permanent collection of the
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was purchased by the
National Gallery in 1924. Though at one time it was displayed in Room 41, as of May 2020, it was not on display in the museum.
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in the background stands a group of women and one man (identified as the mothers of the children and
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Carol Salus (September 1986). "Degas' Young
Spartans Exercising, The Art Bulletin".
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109.5 cm × 155 cm (43.1 in × 61 in)
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A second full-scale version of the painting exists, held by the
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724:After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself
282:"How Degas reworked a classic image"
101:Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys
585:Ballerina Posing for a Photographer
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617:Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando
668:Café-Concert at Les Ambassadeurs
280:Maev Kennedy (25 October 2004).
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759:Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
625:Portraits at the Stock Exchange
553:Ludovic Lepic and His Daughters
522:At the Races in the Countryside
313:"Reading the Animal in Degas's
247:"Reading the Animal in Degas's
561:A Cotton Office in New Orleans
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189:In 1879, Italian art critic
342:"Young Spartans Exercising"
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538:The Orchestra at the Opera
321:19th Century Art Worldwide
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848:Paintings by Edgar Degas
418:Degas: The Artist's Mind
173:Art Institute of Chicago
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498:The Collector of Prints
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196:In a 1985 edition of
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858:Unfinished paintings
593:Place de la Concorde
346:The National Gallery
311:Martha Lucy (2009).
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220:"Degas and the Nude"
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684:Singer with a Glove
482:The Bellelli Family
794:The Impressionists
633:The Millinery Shop
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108:painting by
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804:(2009 play)
727:(1890–1895)
695:(1880–1882)
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636:(1879–1886)
546: 1870
485:(1858–1867)
467:Edgar Degas
425:(see index)
373:: 486–488.
135:Description
117:Edgar Degas
40:Edgar Degas
832:Categories
751:Sculptures
601:L'Absinthe
206:References
64:Dimensions
49:About 1860
517:(1868–69)
474:Paintings
185:Criticism
853:Nude art
802:The Line
514:Interior
225:28 April
142:Lycurgus
72:Location
786:Related
708:The Tub
692:Waiting
660:Pastels
379:3050983
152:History
121:Spartan
115:artist
98:and as
770:Models
762:(1881)
735:(1897)
719:(1886)
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351:21 May
326:12 May
291:12 May
260:12 May
129:London
110:French
80:London
54:Medium
36:Artist
375:JSTOR
400:help
353:2020
328:2010
293:2010
262:2010
227:2017
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