MADRID.- The Restoration Department of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza is presenting a special display in Room 33 of the Permanent Collection. It focuses on the technical study recently undertaken on the pastel on paper At the Milliner’s (1882) by Edgar Degas. Supported by the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, this project allowed the museum’s restoration team to compare and identify similarities between Degas’ pastel and others by the artist on the same subject, period and technique. They also examined the methods and materials employed and gained an understanding of how the work was created, from the use of a sheet of cardboard as the support to the application of the final stroke. In addition, analyses have confirmed the work’s extreme fragility, providing valuable technical information that will help to ensure to its correct conservation.

Degas' favourite subject can be presumed to be dancers, of which he painted around fifteen hundred works. Also interested in scenes of everyday life, he devoted a total of twenty-seven compositions to milliners, the majority pastels but also oils and drawings, almost all from the 1890s onwards. Among the earliest is the pastel in the collection of the Museo Thyssen which is the subject of this study.

This research project was motivated by the restoration team's interest in understanding the pastel technique employed by Degas and in obtaining more detailed information about At the Milliner’s. The technical studies and laboratory analyses carried out have confirmed previously published data on the use of specific materials by the artist in his works and above all have obtained information essential to ensuring the optimum conservation of this pastel on paper.

Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834-1917)

The eldest son of a wealthy Parisian family, Degas abandoned his law studies to devote himself to painting, training in the studio of Louis Lamothe, a pupil of Ingres. Although associated with the Impressionist group, he saw himself as a realist or naturalist painter and his veneration for Ingres's refined drawing style marked his entire oeuvre. Degas’ variations on a single theme demonstrate his obsession with observing and reproducing the rhythm and postures of his figures, and his substitution of traditional viewpoints with off-centre compositions meant that his painting presented a new vision of the world.

Although Degas was a virtuoso in all artistic techniques, from 1870 he primarily used pastel, in which he excelled on the level of a great master. The technique, which had been fashionable in the 18th century, had fallen into disuse until it was revived by the Impressionists, and it opened up new possibilities for Degas to convey movement and a sense of transience in his scenes

Technical study of At the Milliner’s

1. Infrared reflectograph

The Infrared reflectograph (IR), which is the technical image that provides information about the underlying drawing layer beneath the pictorial layers, reveals that this work was pre-conceived from the outset, since only slight modifications are visible in the final result, which are part of the creative process. They include the hat stand on the left of the composition, the sleeve of the seated woman with her back turned, her shoulder, and the glove of the hand holding the parasol handle on the right.

2. X-Ray

The radiographic image (X-ray) shows that the work is in good condition, with no loss of material or damaged edges. The cardboard support is made from mechanically produced pulp of a mixture of cellulose which was identified in the museum's materials laboratory, containing various particles opaque to X-rays that resemble dots or a button.

3. The support

The work is executed on a sheet of paper that is folded over a rigid cardboard support and held in place on the reverse by strips of gummed paper. On the front, the paper is not adhered to the support but simply rests on the sheet of cardboard. However, its state of preservation is good, as there has been no significant alteration and the pictorial layer remains in good condition.

4. Degas' technique

One of Degas' hallmarks as a pastelist was his meticulous layering of colour, applying one layer over another without them blending together. To achieve this, he had to fix each layer before covering it with the next, using a fixative sprayed onto the pastel with an atomizer. This also prevented the colours already applied from flaking off as he continued working. He could add as many layers as he wanted, layering different colours to create the desired volumes or effects. However, the fixatives available on the market altered the tones of the materials used, and Degas' principal concern was that they would not change appearance over time and above all that they would not produce any shine.

5. The fixative

It is known that Luigi Chialiva, an Italian painter based in Écouen on the outskirts of Paris who was also trained as an architect and chemist, developed a fixative that met his friend Degas' requirements: it did not alter the natural colour of the pastel sticks nor the matte finish he wanted to achieve, fulfilling the fundamental requirement of fixing the colours. However, the composition of this fixative has never been revealed, although everything suggests that it could have been based on casein, which has been detected in the analysis of some pastels by the artist.

A micro-sample taken from the surface of the work revealed the presence of a proteinaceous material in a very low proportion. It should not be ruled out that this material, probably calcium caseinate, is the fixative, as there is no other explanation for the presence of a protein on the surface of a pastel.

Furthermore, during the course of this research project the restorers located an entry in the United States Patent Office from 1899 containing the formula for a fixative that includes casein among its ingredients. Submitted by “Luigi Chialiva and Jules Dupont, of Écouen, France”, it is described as “a new neutral and light fixative having the advantage of rapidly drying by virtue of the volatile products composing the same” and which “enables us to fix drawings made with color-crayons, charcoal crayon, crayons and pencils of all kinds, on certain tracing-papers, on cardboard, wood, plaster, and generally on all materials which are of such porosity to absorb the liquid projected theron [...]. This product being almost entirely neutral, possesses the advantage of not altering or modifying either the color of the crayons or pencils or that of the paper upon which the fixative is applied. Our fixative has for its basis casein and alcohol.” This explanation of its use, the names of the inventors and their geographical origin indicate that it could be the registration of the fixative that Chialiva made for Degas