This original pencil and color chalk drawing is marked with the collector’s ink stamp of Mathilde Vallet, the artist’s caretaker.  The oval ink stamp, ‘COLLECTION | MARY CASSATT | MATHILDE X’ is in the lower right margin and detail in Lugt as catalogue raisonné no. 2665a.  On the reverse of the mat board on which the drawing is mounted, there is a pencil inscription with the following, ‘7061 D | Rosenstiel’ with another pen inscription on the reverse of the backing board detailing provenance from Chapellier Galleries, New York.

Mary Cassatt (Pennsylvania, 1844 - Paris, 1926) exhibits some of her finest figural studies here with Mère et enfant by setting the scene against a light blue wove paper.  Using very subtle highlights and lowlights with white, pink, and salmon chalk, the pencil drawing is able to assume a interior light and exudes a life all of its own.  With very minimal lines with clear definition, we are able to see a mother who holds her infant just over her shoulder.  From this angle, we are shown the mother in profile, while the infant is seen in three-quarter view with one hands at its mouth; an expressive gesture that characterizes many infants in Cassatt’s compositions.  

Illustrated In:
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.

Provenance:
~    Ex-collection Mathilde Valet
~    Chapellier Galleries, NY

About The Framing:
Elegantly framed in a bright and feminine gold moulding with subtle vegetal motif, Mère et enfant is set within a double layer of white, linen-wrapped mats, separated by a gold inner fillet. The bright moulding brings life and energy to the piece, while maintaining the quiet and somber tone of the work. All materials are to conservational and museum quality.  Framing is completed with an archival Plexiglas® cover.