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Lot Essay
George Moore, the painter turned writer and critic, spent much of the 1870's in Paris among the Impressionists before returning to his native Ireland and London, where he continued to champion the artists' work.
This sensitive portrait of Cassatt's friend is also a revealing artifact of her mature etching technique -- the first step in a process in which she laid down a foundation for the composition in soft-ground and then worked the plate more fully (see also lot 42). The final state of the etching, as illustrated in Breeskin, is developed to the point that the lines seen here are no longer present. Instead, the subject is represented in brush-like areas of light and shadow.
This sensitive portrait of Cassatt's friend is also a revealing artifact of her mature etching technique -- the first step in a process in which she laid down a foundation for the composition in soft-ground and then worked the plate more fully (see also lot 42). The final state of the etching, as illustrated in Breeskin, is developed to the point that the lines seen here are no longer present. Instead, the subject is represented in brush-like areas of light and shadow.