Sometimes Degas would heavily work up an initial charcoal composition with pastels, as he did with Dancers in Rose nearby; at other times he would leave it like this one, in a seemingly intermediary state. The red stamp at lower left was applied to works remaining in the artist’s studio at the time of his death. Is it finished or unfinished? During his lifetime, works in a similar state were included in two different publications of his drawings, approved by the artist—suggesting his satisfaction with the in-process appearance.