From National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa:
During his first trip to Florence in 1858, Degas visited the Uffizi Gallery and, in an age-old artistic tradition, made copies after the Old Masters. One such, in pencil, was of a red-chalk drawing of a woman, then attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Degas went a step further, assuming the role of his predecessor and producing this painting from his copy of the Renaissance drawing.