2-999-546 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Estelle Balfour, 1863-1865. Estelle Musson Balfour (1843-1909), the artist's cousin from New Orleans, visited France in 1863-65. She was in mourning for her husband, who had been killed at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, while fighting on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War. At the time that this portrait was painted, Mrs. Balfour was going blind. Degas, too, would eventually lose his sight, and this painting explores the experience of seeing those who cannot see.