Bibliography: p. 28.

Despite the popularity of his work, Edouard Degas has remained one of the most elusive of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. To his contemporaries he was always a very private man, rather aloof, self-absorbed and inclined to cynicism. However, few could fault his skill as an artist, and his acute vision, mastery of design, and meticulous attention to often ignored detail single him out as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century art history.