The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer at The Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris

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The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer is a c. 1881 masterpiece by Edgar Degas of a young Belgian student named Marie van Goethem, who attended the Paris Opera Ballet dance school. The sculpture stands at two-thirds life size and was originally crafted in wax, an unconventional choice for the era. It features a real bodice, tutu, and ballet slippers, along with a wig made from real hair. Everything except a hair ribbon and the tutu is coated in wax. The 28 bronze replicas found in museums worldwide today were cast after Degas' passing. These bronzes showcase varying tutus, each one unique to its respective museum. The relationship between Marie van Goethem and Edgar Degas remains unclear. In the late 1800s, it was common for young dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet to seek patronage from wealthy visitors at the back door of the opera house. Marie's pose exudes tension, with her arms taut and legs twisted in an unnatural position. Her face appears contorted, leading some to believe it's a deliberate depiction of ugliness, while others see it as a representation of a sickly adolescent being forced to perform. When La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans debuted at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1881, it received mixed reviews. Joris-Karl Huysmans praised it as "the first truly modern attempt at sculpture I know." However, certain critics were taken aback by the piece, drawing comparisons to a monkey and an Aztec. Paul Mantz called her the "flower of precocious depravity," with a face marked by the promise of every vice and bearing signs of a profoundly heinous character. After Degas' death, his heirs decided to have bronze replicas of Le Petite Danseuse cast at the Hébrard foundry in Paris from 1920 until the mid-20th century. Sixty-nine of Degas' wax sculptures survived this process. One copy is owned by John Madejski, creator and owner of Auto Trader, who purchased it by accident. This particular casting sold for £13,257,250 ($19,077,250) at Sotheby's on February 3rd, 2009. To construct the statue, Degas employed a lead pipe armature and, to some extent, paintbrushes for structural support. This object is part of the "Scan The World" initiative. Scan the World is a non-profit effort led by MyMiniFactory, aimed at creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks, and landmarks from around the globe for public access.