Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt executed this work in drypoint, a print technique in which a needle is used to inscribe a design directly into the surface of a metal plate. The plate is inked, wiped (the incised lines hold ink), and pressed onto the paper. Cassatt's image shows clearly two of drypoint's most characteristic qualities. The baby's back and right leg are delicately shaded with thin marks lightly scratched into the plate. The rich, velvety lines used to establish the baby's contours and the left-hand edge of the mother's dress were produced by gouging deeply into the plate and allowing the ink to cling to the metal burr displaced by the drypoint needle. The line describing the mother's skirt is an especially beautiful mark that seems to ground the drawing and forms a counterweight to the denser work at the top of the sheet.