The model for this bronze was made in 1879-80 as a study for Degas's famous 'Little Fourteen-year-old dancer'. His model was Marie Van Goethen (b. 1864), a Belgian ballet pupil at the Paris Opéra. The first complete version of this statue was made of wax and had real clothes. At the 1881 Impressionist Exhibition, it was described as 'of extraordinary construction and reality'. This study was cast in a bronze edition of 22 in 1919-21. It was purchased by Gwendoline Davies in 1923.