Self-portrait

1853

The Louvre instead of the law

After graduating from the lycée in 1853 Degas registered as a copyist in the Louvre, although his father expected him to become a lawyer; in November he duly enrolled in the Faculty of Law but applied little effort to his studies.

1854

The studio of Louis Lamothe, a pupil of Ingres

At twenty Degas entered the studio of Louis Lamothe, a pupil and follower of Ingres. In the Louvre he copied Poussin and Holbein the Younger, and Courbet and Delacroix influenced him.

1855

Meets Ingres; the École des Beaux-Arts

In 1855 Degas met Ingres, whom he revered, and was advised to draw lines and still more lines, from life and from memory. In April of that year he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied drawing with Lamothe.

July 1856 – 1859

Three years in Italy

In July 1856 Degas left for Italy, where he stayed for three years. He copied Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian but, contrary to convention, usually picked out of an altarpiece a detail that caught his eye — a secondary figure or a head that he treated as a portrait.