'Préparation à la danse, pied droit en avant', 1895-1900 (bronze) [see 6318665 & 5948533]

'Dancer ready to dance, right foot forward'. From the late 1860s Degas took up sculpture, focusing in particular on ballerinas. Degas modelled his figures in a highly malleable mixture of wax and clay, using ordinary things like matchsticks, wire and wine corks to strengthen them. Here a bit of wire used as an armature is visible poking out of the right hand. Although Degas himself never had any of his sculpture cast in bronze the decision was made by his heirs after his death to authorize a series of bronze casts from his originals in order to preserve them. Sculptor, and Degas’ longtime friend, Albert Bartholomé (1848–1928) was to prepare the figures for casting, to be executed by the Paris foundry of A.-A .Hébrard et Cie.