Cleveland Museum of Art

Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Paintings Gallery

Edgar DegasLinkedCulture matchlcp-568c79847d76

Date: 1879–80
Medium: etching, softground etching, and aquatint
Culture: France, 19th century
Department: Prints
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 111371

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Cassatt said that she posed for Degas "only once in a while when he finds the movement difficult and the model cannot seem to get his idea." In fact, she modeled for her friend on numerous occasions beginning in 1879 for a pastel titled At the Louvre , upon which Degas based this etching. Here, Degas showed Cassatt and her sister Lydia in Paris's Musée du Louvre, both involved in studying the paintings on view. Created at a time when women were less frequently seen alone in pub spaces, the image suggests the young women's independence and confidence. Around the same time, Edgar Degas made a second etching showing Mary Cassatt in the Musée du Louvre, this time in the Etruscan Gallery.

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