Mary Cassatt

Cassatt, Mary Stevenson

American, 1844 - 1926

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American painter and printmaker (1844—1926)

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We stand on a beach lined with black rocks and boulders looking out onto the water below a brick-red sky that dominates this nearly square landscape painting. The sky along the top edge of the canvas is turquoise but it quickly fades to rich, salmon pink and then to deep red along the horizon, which comes only a quarter of the way up the composition. Steel-gray clouds ripple across the width of the painting. Two sailboats float in the water in the far distance. The water is painted the same turquoise of the sky with some reflections of the deep pink and red. Close to us, water breaks around the jagged black rocks beyond the a strip of mustard-yellow and tan sand that lines the lowest edge of the canvas. The artist signed the work in dark red paint in the lower left corner: “G. Courbet.”
Gustave Courbet, The Black Rocks at Trouville, 1865/1866, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 2011.51.1

The Black Rocks at Trouville

Gustave Courbet · 1865/1866 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2011.51.1

Spanish 18th/19th Century, The Duke of Wellington, c. 1812, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen, 1963.4.1

The Duke of Wellington

Spanish 18th/19th Century · c. 1812 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.4.1

We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap. He sits with his back to us, bending forward to row the boat, which is cropped by the bottom edge of the canvas. The left side of his ruddy face is visible over his left shoulder. The woman and baby both have pale skin. The woman and baby sit across from the man, facing us to our left in the bow. The woman’s long-sleeved, sky-blue dress is crosshatched with pink lines. The baby leans back in the woman’s arms, and wears a pink dress, blue socks, and brown shoes. The wide-brimmed hats on both the woman and baby are painted pale celery green. They gaze toward or just past the man. The corner of the boat’s sail, also painted pale green, is pulled taunt by the wind to our left. Azure-blue water surrounds the boat up to the high horizon line, which brushes the top edge of the painting. The shoreline in the distance is lined with trees and dotted with white houses with red roofs.
Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.94

The Boating Party

Mary Cassatt · 1893/1894 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.94