There are three similar versions of this scene, and their precise relationship has bedeviled scholars for decades. The largest, painted in grisaille (Musée d’Orsay, Paris), appeared in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The two others, tentatively dated the same year, are in the Metropolitan’s collection. This painting probably preceded the version in pastel (29.100.39), which is more freely handled. The importance that Degas attached to the composition is evident in the preparatory drawings that he made for almost every figure, from the dancer scratching her back in the foreground to the woman yawning next to the stage flat.
More ...[Charles W. Deschamps, London, by 1876; sent to him by the artist before April 1876; sold to Hill]; Captain Henry Hill, Brighton (by 1876–until d. 1882; his estate, 1882–89; his estate sale, Christie's, London, May 25, 1889, no. 29, as "A Rehearsal," for 66 gns. to Sickert); Walter Richard Sickert, London (from 1889; given to Cobden-Sickert); his second wife, Ellen Cobden-Sickert, London (until 1902; left in the care of her sister, Mrs. T. Fisher-Unwin, by summer 1898; deposited by Cobden-Sickert on January 4, 1902 with Durand-Ruel, Paris; deposit no. 10185; returned to her on January 25, 1902 in the care of Boussod, Valadon; sold on January 31, 1902 for Fr 75,373 to Boussod, Valadon); [Boussod, Valadon & Cie, Paris, 1902; stock no. 27473; sold on February 7, 1902, for Fr 82,845, to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1902–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929); her son, Horace Havemeyer, New York (1929; cat., 1931, pp. 122–23, ill.)
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