National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Portrait of an Elderly Lady
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

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Provenance

(Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, "Vente-Collection Mlle. X," 30 March 1927, no. 63, as Etude de femme âgée: chapeau à fleur rose);[1] purchased by Chester Dale [1883-1962]; bequest 1963 to NGA.

[1] Mlle. X was probably Mathilde Valet, Cassatt's housekeeper. According to an undated note in NGA curatorial files, on the Durand-Ruel copy of the sale catalogue, the name "Mathilde" was handwritten after the "Mademoiselle X" title. The note states that Mathilde Valet served as Mary Cassatt's housekeeper, maid and companion. According to the same note, Adelyn Breeskin, Curator of Contemporary Art for the National Collection of Fine Arts, told David Rust that Mary Cassatt left her atelier to her housekeeper, Mathilde Valet, who sold it a year later at auction. Per 4 June 1964 letter in NGA curatorial files from Cassatt's neice, Ellen Mary Hare of Radnor, Pennsylvania (sent in reply to 1 June 1964 letter from David Rust inquiring about the portrait's sitter), Mrs. Hare confirms the relationship between Cassatt and Valet.

Exhibition History

1928
100 Years of French Portraits from the Chester Dale Collection, Museum of French Art, New York, 1928, no. 16
1928
Twenty-Second Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, 1928, no. 24, repro.
1932
Exhibition of Paintings by American Impressionist and Other Artists of the Period "1880-1900", Brooklyn Museum, 1932, no.14
1933
Exhibition of Oils and Pastels by Mary Cassatt, City Art Museum of St. Louis, 1933-1934, no. 6
1965
The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

Bibliography

1929
Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 43, repro., as Dame Agée; Chapeau à Fleur Rose.
1965
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 83, repro.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 22, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 35, repro.
1981
Williams 1981, repro. 139, 140.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 564, no. 858, color repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 40, repro.

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