Before the Fireplace (No. 1)

c. 1882

Mary Cassatt

Associated Names
Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

The image shows a woman depicted in profile, focusing on her upper body as she reclines on an armchair with an elegantly patterned fabric. Her position is relaxed, leaning slightly back with her head supported by her hand. She has delicate facial features, with a serene expression. Her hair is neatly combed and falls on her shoulders. The woman wears a dark garment, possibly a dress, contrasting with the lighter background. The background consists of a textured wall with a prominent mantle above a fireplace.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    softground etching and aquatint on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 16 x 20.6 cm (6 5/16 x 8 1/8 in.)
    sheet: 21.6 x 30.3 cm (8 1/2 x 11 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.5.466

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Breeskin 1979, no. 64, iii/iii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Harris Whittemore [1864-1927], Naugatuck, CT, 1919; (his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 17 January 1949, no. 26); (Charles Sessler, Philadelphia, PA); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA, 1949; gift to the NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1950

  • Prints by Mary Cassatt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1950.

1951

  • Mary Cassatt and her Parisian Friends, Pasadena Art Institute, CA, 1951, no. 23.

1963

  • Prints and Drawings by Mary Cassatt, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1963.

1964

  • Prints by Mary Cassatt, organized by the Smithsonian Travelling Exhibition Service and circulated to 10 venues (Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY; Norton Gallery & School of Art, Palm Beach, FL; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; Charles & Emma Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH; Columbus Gallery of Fine Art, Columbus, OH; Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA; and A.D. White Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY), 1964-1965.

1967

  • Miss Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Graphic Arts, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, 1967.

2009

  • The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850-1900, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; 2009-2010.

Bibliography

1979

  • Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Graphic Work. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979, no. 64, iii/iii.

1996

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Cassatt: A Retrospective. New York: H.L. Levin Associates, 1996, p. 126.

Inscriptions

lower left in graphite: Ep d'Etat; lower right in graphite: Coll Edg Degas; lower left margin in graphite by unknown hand: Cassatt Before the fireplace; lower right margin in graphite by unknown hand: Degas collection

Wikidata ID

Q65081075

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