The Lamp

1890-1891

Mary Cassatt

Associated Names
Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

The image shows a woman seated and turned to the side. She is shown from the upper back up, with her head in profile. Her facial features and hair are delicately sketched. She is depicted wearing a garment with a V-shaped neckline at the back. In the background, there is a small table with decorative objects and a draped form resembling a curtain or tapestry. The sketch is light and elegantly rendered.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    drypoint and softground etching on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed within platemark): 31.6 × 25.2 cm (12 7/16 × 9 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1946.21.85

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Mathews and Shapiro 1989, no. 6, i/iv

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Robert Hartshorne (1866-1927), New Jersey (Lugt 2215b); (sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 23 January 1946, lot 50); Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; acquired 1946 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1989

  • Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamston, MA, 1989-1990, no. 6-I, repro.

2009

  • The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2009, unnumbered catalogue.

2025

  • Mary Cassatt / Berthe Morisot: Allies in Impressionism, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, 2025, no cat. number, repro.

Bibliography

1979

  • Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, no. 144, i/iii.

1989

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1989, no. 6, i/iv.

2009

  • Munroe, Alexandra. The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989. Exh. cat. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2009, fig. 18.

2025

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll, and Cannon, Ann. Mary Cassatt / Berthe Morisot: Allies in Impressionism. Exh.cat. Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, 2025: 55, repro.

Inscriptions

recto: in image, at lower left, in graphite: Mary Cassatt; verso: at upper right, in graphite, in later hand: No. 138 [underlined]; at lower right, in graphite, in later hand: NY E 767 oss; at bottom right, in graphite, in later hand: 36464

Markings

Robert Hartshorne (Lugt 2215b)

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q65081030

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