Lot Essay
Throughout her long and distinguished career, Mary Cassatt developed close friendships within the circle of artists, collectors and critics of the French avant-garde. Among them was Théodore Gaillard, an early patron and friend of the French Impressionists, who acquired paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Edgar Degas, among others. Degas introduced Cassatt to Gaillard and his family, and over the years she became a close friend and a frequent guest in their home.
Cassatt and the Gaillard family belonged to the upper-middle class artistic and intellectual elite of Paris, and they also shared company in countryside retreats at locations outside the city such as Chatou and La Grenouillère. The Gaillard family owned property at Chatou and also visited Cassatt at Marly-le-Roi and Louvecienne. In these more relaxed settings Cassatt developed a close bond to Dr. Gaillard, his wife and their children, including Marie-Thérèse, whose pastel portrait Cassatt executed in 1894 when she was six years old.
During the late 1880s and early 1890s Cassatt explored with increasing frequency the subject of children for her paintings and pastels. As a single woman nearing the age of fifty, Cassatt had no children of her own. Instead she surrounded herself with numerous nieces and nephews, as well as the children of family friends such as the Gaillards, to whom she devoted a great deal of love and attention. During this period Cassatt produced some of the most intimate and tender images of children--either alone or in the company of a maternal figure. These works reveal the private side of Cassatt's artistic vision and speak to the theme of female companionship and closeness, which are the hallmarks of her finest pictures.
During the early 1890s the child began to receive more attention in Cassatt's work. She individualized her sitters, giving them distinct personalities, a characteristic that is clearly evident in Marie-Thérèse Gaillard. In the pastel Marie-Thérèse sits with her upper body facing the viewer, yet her head is turned to one side, attentive to the activity around her. She reacts not as a passive observer, but as a responsive, intelligent individual. At the same time Cassatt takes care to highlight the young girl's youthful beauty. She has developed her skin tones with a lustrous combination of colors, including delicate pinks, peaches and touches of white. Her features are more carefully modelled than other elements in the composition, where she employs her bold, gestural strokes of color in a thoroughly Impressionistic style. The vigorous use of the pastel medium seen in the dress and background create a subtle counterpoint to the softer, more descriptive treatment of Marie-Thérèse's face.
Cassatt's success at creating images such as Marie-Thérèse Gaillard led the artist to acquire a reputation as a leading painter of children. When John Singer Sargent was asked to paint the children of his Boston patrons Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Greene Hammond, he declined, recommending Cassatt instead, who accepted the commission and executed the portraits around 1898. Such popularity was undoubtedly due to her unparalleled ability to capture the beauty and intelligence of her young subjects, characteristics seen in Marie-Thérèse Gaillard.
After its completion in 1894, Marie-Thérèse Gaillard was hung in the Gaillard family's townhouse in Paris on rue Lafayette. (figure a) This photograph taken in January 1896 shows Marie-Thérèse, the model for the pastel, and her brother Pol seated in the family's library. Visible on the far wall above the bookshelves is Marie-Thérèse Gaillard. An additional testament to the Gaillard family's appreciation of Cassatt and her work, the pastel is flanked by a framed etching and an aquatint from Cassatt's celebrated series of color prints. Since it execution in 1894, the pastel has remained in the family of Marie-Thérèse Gaillard.
This pastel will be included in the Cassatt Committee's revision of Adelyne Dohme Breeskin's catalogue raisonné of the works of Mary Cassatt.
Cassatt and the Gaillard family belonged to the upper-middle class artistic and intellectual elite of Paris, and they also shared company in countryside retreats at locations outside the city such as Chatou and La Grenouillère. The Gaillard family owned property at Chatou and also visited Cassatt at Marly-le-Roi and Louvecienne. In these more relaxed settings Cassatt developed a close bond to Dr. Gaillard, his wife and their children, including Marie-Thérèse, whose pastel portrait Cassatt executed in 1894 when she was six years old.
During the late 1880s and early 1890s Cassatt explored with increasing frequency the subject of children for her paintings and pastels. As a single woman nearing the age of fifty, Cassatt had no children of her own. Instead she surrounded herself with numerous nieces and nephews, as well as the children of family friends such as the Gaillards, to whom she devoted a great deal of love and attention. During this period Cassatt produced some of the most intimate and tender images of children--either alone or in the company of a maternal figure. These works reveal the private side of Cassatt's artistic vision and speak to the theme of female companionship and closeness, which are the hallmarks of her finest pictures.
During the early 1890s the child began to receive more attention in Cassatt's work. She individualized her sitters, giving them distinct personalities, a characteristic that is clearly evident in Marie-Thérèse Gaillard. In the pastel Marie-Thérèse sits with her upper body facing the viewer, yet her head is turned to one side, attentive to the activity around her. She reacts not as a passive observer, but as a responsive, intelligent individual. At the same time Cassatt takes care to highlight the young girl's youthful beauty. She has developed her skin tones with a lustrous combination of colors, including delicate pinks, peaches and touches of white. Her features are more carefully modelled than other elements in the composition, where she employs her bold, gestural strokes of color in a thoroughly Impressionistic style. The vigorous use of the pastel medium seen in the dress and background create a subtle counterpoint to the softer, more descriptive treatment of Marie-Thérèse's face.
Cassatt's success at creating images such as Marie-Thérèse Gaillard led the artist to acquire a reputation as a leading painter of children. When John Singer Sargent was asked to paint the children of his Boston patrons Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Greene Hammond, he declined, recommending Cassatt instead, who accepted the commission and executed the portraits around 1898. Such popularity was undoubtedly due to her unparalleled ability to capture the beauty and intelligence of her young subjects, characteristics seen in Marie-Thérèse Gaillard.
After its completion in 1894, Marie-Thérèse Gaillard was hung in the Gaillard family's townhouse in Paris on rue Lafayette. (figure a) This photograph taken in January 1896 shows Marie-Thérèse, the model for the pastel, and her brother Pol seated in the family's library. Visible on the far wall above the bookshelves is Marie-Thérèse Gaillard. An additional testament to the Gaillard family's appreciation of Cassatt and her work, the pastel is flanked by a framed etching and an aquatint from Cassatt's celebrated series of color prints. Since it execution in 1894, the pastel has remained in the family of Marie-Thérèse Gaillard.
This pastel will be included in the Cassatt Committee's revision of Adelyne Dohme Breeskin's catalogue raisonné of the works of Mary Cassatt.