A sale catalogue of 1898 evocatively described the performer pictured in this pastel: Skinny and with the graceful moves of a little monkey, she has just sung her ribald verses and, with a gesture that conceals an entreaty behind her smile, is inviting applause. With her small eyes, high cheeks, and low brow, the model recalls Marie von Goethem, the working-class girl who posed for Degas's sculpture?The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer. The singer's dress, rendered in vivid yellow, turquoise, and orange, reflects the artist's experimentation with saturated hues and color contrasts in the mid-1880s.