Self-Portrait in a Spanish Costume

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Marie Bracquemond was among a few women artists within the Impressionist circle. After exhibiting at the Salon from a relatively young age, she married the printmaker Félix Bracquemond and met artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas through his friendship with them. This print is one of about ten etchings created by Bracquemond, who presumably learned the medium from her husband and went on to master it. Here, she presents herself posed in fashionable attire, holding a distinctive fan. Although Marie Bracquemond was supported and widely respected by her colleagues in her own time, her husband’s reticence to her pursuing a career ultimately led her to limit her artistic production.