Mary Cassatt, Child in a Bonnet

Artist: Mary Cassatt (1845 - 1926)
Title:Child in a Bonnet
Medium:Color pastel drawing on buff laid paper
Sheet Size:11 3/4 in x 8 1/4 in (29.8 cm x 21 cm)
Signature:With the ‘COLLECTION | MARY CASSATT | MATHILDE X’ ovular collector’s stamp in ink on the front in the lower right, and the same stamp in ink on the verso in the upper left.
Condition:This work is in excellent condition.
ID #W-5819
Price on Request

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Historical Description

Mary Cassatt Child in a Bonnet is a delightful image of a rosy cheeked child in a robin’s egg blue bonnet. The russet colored hair brings warmth to the image, along with the reddish eyelashes that frame introspective eyes – unusual in such a young child. Cassatt uses gentle pastels to create clouds of color that make up features of the child. Cassatt spent most of her professional career in Paris, working closely with many Impressionists. She found an artistic space within the movement, but her own work is mostly only Impressionist in terms of color and light. Figures were the main focus of her work, and within that, the faces intrigued her the most. Most of the detail in Child in a Bonnet lies within the face – there is no outside context for the child, and its garb is not very detailed. Cassatt’s work with figures is starkly honest – there is no attempt to glaze over reality. This makes her work shockingly sincere, and exposes her tender feelings towards humanity.

This color pastel drawing on buff laid paper is marked with the collector’s ink stamp of Mathilde Valet, the artist’s caretaker. The oval ink stamp, ‘COLLECTION | MARY CASSATT | MATHILDE X…’ is in the lower right margin in ink  and detailed in Lugt as catalogue raisonné no. 2665a. The same stamp is printed in ink in the upper left corner on the verso.

Provenance:

  • Ex-collection Mathilde Valet

 

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Mary Cassatt Child in a Bonnet is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Lugt, F. (1988). Les marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes – Supplément. Alan Wofsy Fine Arts: San Francisco. Mathilde Valet’s collector’s stamp listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 2665a on pg. 382.

2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Mary Cassatt Child in a Bonnet is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.

Subject Matter: Maternity Portrait