Study in the Nude of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen (Nude Little Dancer)

Edgar Degas

National Gallery of Art

A young, nude girl is roughly modeled with glossy navy blue and wine-red beeswax in this freestanding sculpture. She faces our left in profile in this photograph. Her weight rests on her left foot, closer to us, and her other leg extends long, the foot turned out at an angle. Her hands are clasped behind her back, and her round belly projects from her swayed hips. Her head is tipped back and her eyes closed. She stands on a double pedestal. A crack runs across one corner of the top, white, square plaster pedestal. A wider wood pedestal is below.