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Artwork Page for Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Paintings Gallery

Details / Information for Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Paintings Gallery

1879–80
(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century
etching, softground etching, and aquatint
Support: Beige (1) wove paper
Platemark: 30.2 x 12.6 cm (11 7/8 x 4 15/16 in.); Sheet: 36.5 x 22.3 cm (14 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.)
The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1929.876
Catalogue raisonné: Reed and Shapiro 52
State: XV/XX (only known impression of this state)
Impression: unique
Location: not on view
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

Around the same time, Edgar Degas made a second etching showing Mary Cassatt in the Musée du Louvre, this time in the Etruscan Gallery.

Description

Cassatt said that she posed for Degas "only once in a while when he finds the movement difficult and the model cannot seem to get his idea." In fact, she modeled for her friend on numerous occasions beginning in 1879 for a pastel titled At the Louvre, upon which Degas based this etching. Here, Degas showed Cassatt and her sister Lydia in Paris's Musée du Louvre, both involved in studying the paintings on view. Created at a time when women were less frequently seen alone in pub spaces, the image suggests the young women's independence and confidence.
Vertically long print in dark ink looking around the edge of a wall at two women in a painting gallery. One stands, viewed from behind, wearing a dark coat and hat, swinging a cane behind her. Seated behind her, in a dark coat and dress that occasionally disappears into the other woman's dark coat, a woman wearing a hat holds a book in front of her face but looks to her left, towards the paintings.

Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Paintings Gallery

1879–80

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century

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