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Mary Cassatt

Under the Horse Chestnut Tree, 1896-1897

Description

Maker

Mary Cassatt, 1844-1926, American

Title

Under the Horse Chestnut Tree

Year

1896-1897

Medium

Drypoint and aquatint

Materials/Techniques

Supports

thin laid cream van der Ley paper

Dimensions

Plate: 41 x 29.2 cm (16 1/8 x 11 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Recto: inscribed in graphite below plate, LR: "Mary Cassatt"; and LL: "Nº 18"

Identification

State

3/3, 4th state

Type

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

1996.101

Exhibition History

Visions and Revisions

February 15 - August 4, 2019

Sitting beneath a tree, a woman holds up a small child as their gazes interlock. Intimate depictions of mothers and children such as this one were central to the work of Cassatt, an American who trained and permanently settled in France.

After visiting an exhibition of Japanese prints in 1890, Cassatt was inspired to revisit the technique of multi-plate color aquatint, which had peaked in popularity about a century earlier. Cassatt sought to create the flat planes of color and bold compositions of Japanese woodcuts. By selectively inking certain areas of the plates, such as the child’s hair, she extended the color range of this image, which was printed from three plates.

Recent Acquisitions

February 18 - April 16, 2000

It was important that the Museum, with over 20,000 works on paper, possess at least one color print by Mary Cassatt. Although she did not make prints until twenty years into her career, they were an important part of her oeuvre. In the 1890s, Cassatt started using aquatint with drypoint. According to legend, Cassatt experimented with this image and printed the three unique impressions on a small etching press at her country estate in Beaufresne, France. Later, Cassatt collaborated with a professional printer to incorporate a few bright colors and to publish a small edition of forty-five prints; thus it is considered rare and important work.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Under the Horse Chestnut Tree with the accession number of 1996.101. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.