User:Emmac514/Mother and Child (Cassatt)

Mother and Child (The Oval Mirror) is an oil-on-canvas painting by Mary Cassatt. The painting depicts a mother and her child in front of mirror. The child is nude and leans on his mother as she lovingly gazes at him. The child has been identified as Jules who also modeled for other paintings by Cassatt. The painting provides a glance at the domestic life of a mother and her child. This is a common theme throughout Cassatt's work.

It is unclear when exactly Cassatt painted Mother and Child, but it was acquired by dealer Durand-Ruel in 1898. Durand-Ruel sold the painting to the Havemeyers in 1899. In 1929, the Havemeyer family gave the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting is currently exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Context
From 1881-1891, Cassatt's reputation shifted as she began to focus on mother-and-child subjects. Cassatt's focus on the mother-and-child subjects can be compared to the haystacks of Monet. In addition to Mother and Child (The Oval Mirror), Cassatt painted several other depictions of mother-and-child subjects. Prior to this shift, she typically depicted neutral scenes of daily life. The change in her subject aligns with the shift from realism to symbolism in French art during this decade.

Religious Imagery
The work depicts a mother and child and appears to be drawing from the iconography of "Mary and child" religious imagery. Comparisons between Mother and Child and depictions of the Madonna and infant Christ from the Italian Renaissance show that Cassatt may have been influenced by religious imagery. Similarities are most apparent in the positioning of the figures and particularly the child. The Madonna and Child from the workshop of Andrea della Robbia provides a striking comparison. The child in Cassatt's painting adopts the contrapposto stance of the Italian Renaissance. He leans on his mother with one hand draped across her neck and the other clasping his mother's hand. This is the same position of the infant Christ in the Madonna and Christ. Additionally, the mirror behind their heads alludes to the halos in Madonna and Christ.

The Havemeyers also made a connection to religious imagery when the painting was in their possession. They referred to it as "The Florentine Madonna."

While the mirror behind their head could be understood as a religious symbol, it also introduces an alternative perspective. The mirror could also convey meaning about the domestic setting in which Cassatt places her figures. The mirror in this painting is opaque which creates a sense of "intimacy, privacy, and quite thoughtfulness."

Griselda Pollock's essay further supports an alternative perspective of Mother and Child. Pollock rejects the idea that Cassatt was reworking the religious symbol of the Madonna and infant Christ. She argues that Cassatt was using images of a parent and child to express the phases of family life. In her essay, Pollock discusses how one of Cassatt's main themes was the depiction of mother and child. Any connection between Mother and Child and religious imagery can be negated by the fact that Cassatt also often depicted mothers with daughters. Her focus in Mother and Child was not to recall the relationship of the Madonna and Christ, but to emphasize the relationship between a mother and her child in general. Pollock claim's that the theme of Cassatt's oeuvre is the phases of womanhood. According to this theme, it does not follow that Cassatt was evoking religious imagery. Her focus was on the relationship between any mother with her child rather than on the relationship between Mary and Christ).

Kitagawa Utamaro
Like many other Impressionists, Cassatt was influenced by Japanese art. In 1890, a Japanese graphic arts exhibition came to Paris and Cassatt frequently visited the exhibition. One of her main influences was Kitagawa Utamaro. Utamaro's subjects were similar to Cassatt's. He typically depicted woman and children going about their domestic lives. One print of Utamaro's that Cassatt must have been influenced by is Takashima Ohisha Using Two Mirrors to Observe Her Coiffure. Utamaro and Cassatt both use a mirror in their paintings to communicate the femininity of their subjects. This print by Utamaro was most likely owned by Cassatt.

Edgar Degas
The dealer, Duran-Ruel, who sold Mother and Child told the Havemeyers that when he asked Degas his opinion on the piece and he said: "he considers it the finest work that Mary Cassatt ever did; he says it contains all her qualities and is particularly characteristic of her talent." Later, Louisie Havemeyer learned that Degas had actually said: "It has all your [Mary's] qualities and all your faults- it's the baby Jesus and his English nurse."

Havemeyers
In 1899, the Havemeyer offered $2000 for Mother and Child. This price was unusually high and was most likely due to Edgar Degas' praise of the painting. The Havemeyers at this point had a great collection of Degas' works and a few other compositions by Cassatt.