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Edgar Degas was born in a family of bankers. When his mother died in 1847, his father, Auguste de Gas, and grandfather, Hilaire de Gas, took care of him and they were most influental in his life. Eventhough he was interested in paining he began to study law, but he quit his studies in 1853. He mostly visited Felix Joseph Barrias’s studio and spent his time copying Renaissance works. In 1854-1859 he made several trips to Italy, sometimes he was just visiting his relatives, or he was studying from the Old Masters. He started to paint historical pictures and realistic portraits of his relatives. By 1860 Degas had drawn over 700 copies of other works, most of the work was early Italian Renaissance and French classical art. The most important historical work of the period was Spartan Girls Challenging Boys(c.1860-