Portrait of an Elderly Lady

c. 1887

Mary Cassatt

Artist, American, 1844 - 1926

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 86

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 72.9 x 60.3 cm (28 11/16 x 23 3/4 in.)
    framed: 100.3 x 84.1 cm (39 1/2 x 33 1/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.7

Artwork history & notes

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], New York; 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 (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), told NGA curator David Rust that Mary Cassatt left her atelier to her housekeeper, Mathilde Valet, who sold it a year later at auction. In a letter of 4 June 1964 from Cassatt's niece, Ellen Mary Hare of Radnor, Pennsylvania (sent in reply to David Rust's letter of 1 June 1964 inquiring about the portrait's sitter), Mrs. Hare confirms the relationship between Cassatt and Valet, but was unable to identify the sitter (both letters in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • 100 Years of French Portraits from the Chester Dale Collection, Museum of French Art, New York, 1928, no. 16

  • 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, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 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.

Wikidata ID

Q20189881

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