Artwork
Portrait of Diego Martelli
Portrait of Diego Martelli is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the National Galleries Scotland.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Diego Martelli (1839–1896) was an Italian art critic closely associated with the Macchiaioli circle in Florence and a frequent visitor to Paris, where he engaged with the emerging Impressionist group. Degas portrayed him twice; the version held by the National Galleries of Scotland shows Martelli seated on a wooden chair, arms crossed, with a solemn, introspective gaze. The composition is framed from a slightly elevated angle, and the table beside him is littered with newspapers, books and an inkwell, emphasizing his scholarly activity.
These visual details underscore Martelli’s role as a cultural mediator linking French and Italian avant‑garde circles, while Degas’s unconventional perspective injects a dynamic tension into the otherwise static portrait.
Technique & Style
The support is a standard woven canvas, prepared for oil application, allowing Degas to exploit the medium’s fluidity and opacity [].
Edgar Degas’s Portrait of Diego Martelli (1879) is executed in oil paint on canvas, measuring 110.4 by 99.8 centimeters []. The support is a standard woven canvas, prepared for oil application, allowing Degas to exploit the medium’s fluidity and opacity [].
The handling is characteristically bold and improvisational, with visible brushwork that ranges from thick impasto in the sitter’s sweater and trouser folds to thin, rapid strokes defining the cluttered tabletop. This varied texture reinforces the immediacy of the scene. The composition employs an audacious high-angle perspective, compressing spatial depth and thrusting the figure forward, a device Degas had experimented with in earlier works [].
Color is modulated through muted earth tones, ochres, browns, and grays, punctuated by the white of Martelli’s shirt and the warm accents of his slippers, creating a restrained yet dynamic palette [].
History & Provenance
Edgar Degas executed this oil on canvas portrait of the Italian critic Diego Martelli in 1879, though some sources estimate the creation date around 1875. The work depicts Martelli seated with crossed arms, surrounded by books and periodicals, utilizing a high-angle perspective characteristic of Degas's style. Following its completion, the painting entered the collection of George Viau.
The National Galleries Scotland subsequently acquired the piece in 1932 through a purchase, assigning it the accession number NG 1785. It is currently housed in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh.
The Portrait of Diego Martelli is held in the National Galleries Scotland (Scottish National Gallery) in Edinburgh. It bears the accession number NG 1785, having been purchased by the gallery in 1932. The work was shown in the 4th Impressionist exhibition.
Context
The Portrait of Diego Martelli (c. 1875–1879) occupies a pivotal place in Edgar Degas’s oeuvre as a transnational dialogue between French Impressionism and the Italian Macchiaioli. Diego Martelli, a Florentine critic and habitué of the Caffè Michelangiolo, acted as a conduit between the two movements, promoting Impressionist innovations in Italy while defending Macchiaioli principles abroad. Degas’s double portrait of Martelli, one version in Edinburgh, another lost, was painted during the critic’s Parisian sojourns, underscoring the sitter’s role as both participant and mediator in avant-garde networks.
Critics emphasize the work’s dynamic composition: the high vantage point compresses space, lending the scene an uneasy immediacy despite the subject’s stillness. The cluttered table, heaped with journals and books, signals Martelli’s intellectual engagement, while his crossed arms and absorbed gaze reflect Degas’s interest in psychological presence. Exhibited at the 4th Impressionist exhibition (1879), the painting was recognized as both a portrait and a manifesto of the artist’s evolving style, bridging Realism’s gravitas and Impressionism’s perceptual boldness.
Legacy
The painting entered the National Gallery of Scotland after being shown at the 4th Impressionist exhibition in 1879, marking its early public exposure. Critics have highlighted its vigorous composition and psychological intensity, especially the high‑angle perspective and the cluttered foreground, features that prefigure later portrait experimentation. Its continued presence in museum displays, scholarly catalogues, and multilingual Wikipedia entries, as well as its inclusion in the Art UK database, demonstrates an enduring reputation that influences contemporary understandings of Degas’s legacy.
Overview
Edgar Degas completed his oil painting, Portrait of Diego Martelli, in 1890. This work captures the likeness of Diego Martelli, an Italian art critic and a friend of the artist. The composition places Martelli within a domestic interior, featuring a prominent couch and a door, conveying a sense of personal space. This piece is held in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery.
Artist & collection
Artist
Born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas on 19 July 1834 in Paris, Edgar Degas came from an affluent banking family with aristocratic roots and spent his childhood among the cultivated circles of the French capital.
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