The Cirque Fernando was built in 1875 on the Boulevard de Rouchechouart in Paris, the creation of Ferdinand Beert, or ‘Fernando’. Due to its proximity to Montmartre, the circus attracted many artists, including Degas, Renoir and Lautrec, who studied the performers in action. Mrs Fernando, who managed the box office, allowed the artists to work in the circus during rehearsals and watch the performers free of charge. This study focuses on the architectural background for Degas’s painting La La at the Cirque Fernando (1879) now in the National Gallery, London. Degas's inscription states that 'the rafters are more slanting'. See also entry for 36.7.

Inscriptions / Translations:  Inscribed u.l.: les fermes sont plus penchés. Sale Stamp l.l: Degas

Notes:  Exhibited: 'Degas,' Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., USA, 1931 no.19b; 'Drawings by Degas,' City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 20 January 1967 - 26 February 1967; 'Drawings by Degas', Philidelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA, 10 March 1967 - 30 April 1967; 'Drawings by Degas', Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA, 16 May 1967 - 25 June 1967, no. 84; 'Degas 1879', National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, 13 August 1979 - 30 September 1979, no.46; 'Edgar Degas: Pastels, Oils, Drawings', Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, 14 January 1984 - 25 March 1984; 'French Impressionism: Treasures from the Midlands', Birmingham Museum and Gallery, Birmingham, UK, 07 June 1991- 18 August 1991; 'Art in the Making: Degas', National Gallery, London, UK, 10 November 2004 - 30 January 2005; 'Miss Lala au Cirque Fernando', The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, USA, 15 February 2013 - 12 May 2013

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