What did Edgar Degas study during his three years in Italy?

During his three-year period in Italy (1856–1859), Edgar Degas immersed himself in the study of painting and sculpture from antiquity, the trecento, and the Renaissance.1

While traveling through Naples, Rome, and Florence, he filled notebooks with sketches of faces, landscapes, and historic buildings, alongside hundreds of rapid pencil copies of frescoes and oil paintings. He specifically studied and copied works by masters such as Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian, while also showing interest in artists like Anthony van Dyck and Frans Snyders.1

Beyond copying, Degas consciously modeled his drawings on the linear restraint of Florentine masters like Michelangelo, while simultaneously acknowledging the influence of Venetian painters like Titian and their use of color. His sketchbooks from this time also contained reflections and drafts for his own figure-based paintings, marking the beginning of his lifelong habit of technical self-criticism.21