Edgar Degas
Degas's only showing of sculpture during his life took place in 1881 when he exhibited "The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years". A nearly life-size wax figure with real hair and dressed in a cloth tutu, it provoked a strong reaction from critics, most of whom found its realism extraordinary but denounced the dancer as ugly. In a review, J.-K. Huysmans wrote: "The terrible reality of this statuette evidently produces uneasiness in the spectators; all their notions about sculpture, about those cold inanimate whitenesses ... are here overturned. The fact is that with his first attempt Monsieur Degas has revolutionized the traditions of sculpture as he has long since shaken the conventions of painting."
Hieronymus Janssens
Janssens' paintings are often both signed and dated, with dates ranging from 1646 to 1661. Like his teacher van der Laemen he was specialized in dance scenes, set inside a house or on an outside terrace. This is where he got the nickname "Den danser" or "The dancer". These works contributed to the development of the genre of the conversation piece in the Low Countries. His representations of elegant companies and balls and the works of Peter Paul Rubens, in particular his "Garden of Love" (Prado Museum), were significant for the formation of the genre. In this last work, Rubens showed how a garden could be used as a setting for amorous dalliance and courtship.