Existing comment:
Edgar Degas
Mademoiselle Malot, c 1877
Thérèse Malot
from https://www.nga.gov/features/degas-opera.html
Little is known about Thérèse Malot beyond her relationship with the Degas family. She was a dancer at the Opéra in the 1860s who presumably served as the model for at least two of Degas's ballet pictures and was the subject of three portraits (her sister Augustine, also a dancer, is a possible, but less likely model). Degas had reason to know Thérèse beyond her role in his art, however, since she and the artist's younger brother, Achille, had engaged in a love affair for years. In 1875, after they had ended their affair, a public quarrel with Malot's husband led to Achille pulling a revolver and attempting to shoot the man. None of his shots found their target, but Achille was sentenced to six months in prison following this encounter. |