Read the visual description
This print shows an elderly woman seated, slightly angled to the left, with her head resting on her hand. Her facial features are soft, and she has beige skin and her hair is gray and pulled back neatly. She is wearing a high-collared black dress and a light-colored shawl over her shoulders. The background is a muted brown with green and yellow floral decorations suggesting bouquets of green and yellow flowers placed on either side of her.
National Gallery of Art · Print
A Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Mary Cassatt
- Date
- c. 1889-1890
- Medium
- color softground etching and aquatint on laid paper
- Dimensions
- plate: 25.24 × 17.94 cm (9 15/16 × 7 1/16 in.) sheet: 35.2 x 21 cm (13 7/8 x 8 1/4 in.)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 1946.21.90
- Credit line
- Rosenwald Collection
- Time span
- 1876 to 1900
- Department
- CG-W
Subjects and terms
- American
- Flower
- Seated figure
- Impressionist
- Woman
- Vase
- Portrait
- mother
- figure
Provenance
Robert Hartshorne (1866-1927), New Jersey (Lugt 2215b); (sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 23 January 1946, lot 68); Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; acquired 1946 by the National Gallery of Art
Inscription
recto: below image, at right, in graphite: Mary Cassatt; along bottom edge, in graphite, in later hand: 2 NY 609 H. H. moa; verso: at lower right, in graphite, in later hand: 13
Marks
recto: none; verso: Robert Hartshorne (Lugt 2215b)
Watermarks
ANDERLEY
NGA object ID 33348. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.