L’écolière (The School Girl)

Degas only exhibited one sculpture during his lifetime, the Little Dancer Aged 14. After his death, numerous wax models were discovered in his studio, of which roughly eighty were considered viable for the production of casts. L’écolière, thought to have been conceived in wax circa 1880, was first produced in a cast of 20 in the 1950s by the Hébrard foundry for the Knoedler Gallery in New York City. One of these served as the model for a cast issued by Rockefeller in the 1970s. The specific cast offered here, number 32, is particularly fine in detail and patina.

The Nelson Rockefeller Collection was a mid-20th century undertaking in which Rockefeller, an avid collector and patron, had moulds made from casts taken of works in his own private art collection, and created high-quality reproductions in small numbered batches, often sold through galleries and upscale outlets like Saks Fifth Avenue. The standards of production were incredibly high, and the finished products are often indistinguishable from the ‘original’, but for foundry marks.

Quite rare.