The model for Degas' '
The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer' ('
La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans'), modeled in 1880, was Marie Van Goethem, a student at the École de Danse in Paris and dancer at the Opéra. The sculpture received mixed reviews at the time it was first displayed (it was cast in 1922) as some reviewers thought it
appallingly ugly. I think she's wonderfully life-like (especially since she's life-size!).
Degas seems to have captured her during a moment of contemplation perhaps while being shown a new step or simply while
"standing at the side of the classroom, perhaps admiring older, more advanced dancers in an exercise" as
Evan @ DancingPerfectlyFree suggested.
Lovely:
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