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The present work is a rarity within Cassatt’s oeuvre, as the artist often preferred to use models rather than real mothers and their children in her maternal scenes. Here, she paints a friend in her artistic circle, Marie de Fleury who sits with her young child. The sitter was the sister-in-law of sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholomé and shared a close friendship with both Cassatt and Edgar Degas. The specificity of the portraiture and natural positioning of the subjects in this painting set it apart from her otherwise more idealized depictions of motherhood. As if captured in an off-hand moment, Madame de Fleury and Her Child distinctly underscores its modernity in this snapshot of contemporary life.
Exhibition History(possibly) Durand-Ruel New York, 1895, no. 25 (titled "Mère et Enfant")
Durand-Ruel, New York, 1924, no 14 (titled "jeune mère et enfant")
"Boudin to Cézanne," Durand-Ruel, New York, 1938, no. 4 (titled "Jeune femme et enfant" (Mme. De Fleury)" and dated 1890)
"Mary Cassatt, 1845-1926," Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 1939, no. 8, ill.
"The Paintings of Mary Cassatt," Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1966, no. 26, n.p., ill. (titled "Mother and Child")
"Mary Cassatt 1845-1926," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 1970, no. 44, n.p., ill.
ProvenanceThe artist
Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York (acquired on April 21, 1924 from the above)
Mrs. Ogden Phipps, New York (acquired on December 13, 1939 from the above)
Lilliam Bostwick Phipps, New York (acquired by decent from the above)
Sotheby's, New York, May 25, 1988, lot 175 (cosigned by the estate of the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Sotheby's, New York Private Sales 2024 (acquired from the above)
Artist
Mary Cassatt
(American, 1844 - 1926)
Madame de Fleury and Her Child
Date1890-1891
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 28 1/4 × 23 in. (71.8 × 58.4 cm)
Object numberN0003.2024
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust.
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextMadame de Fleury and Her Child exemplifies a remarkably contemporary re-imagining of the timeless subject of mother and child. This composition was executed in the early 1890s, a period frequently regarded as the peak of Mary Cassatt's artistic career. As one of few women to exhibit with the otherwise male-dominated Impressionists, Cassatt broke new ground with her focus on sensitive and highly modern depictions of motherhood, intimate family scenes and the lives of women, capturing the complexities of women's roles in contemporary French society. The present work is a rarity within Cassatt’s oeuvre, as the artist often preferred to use models rather than real mothers and their children in her maternal scenes. Here, she paints a friend in her artistic circle, Marie de Fleury who sits with her young child. The sitter was the sister-in-law of sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholomé and shared a close friendship with both Cassatt and Edgar Degas. The specificity of the portraiture and natural positioning of the subjects in this painting set it apart from her otherwise more idealized depictions of motherhood. As if captured in an off-hand moment, Madame de Fleury and Her Child distinctly underscores its modernity in this snapshot of contemporary life.
Exhibition History(possibly) Durand-Ruel New York, 1895, no. 25 (titled "Mère et Enfant")
Durand-Ruel, New York, 1924, no 14 (titled "jeune mère et enfant")
"Boudin to Cézanne," Durand-Ruel, New York, 1938, no. 4 (titled "Jeune femme et enfant" (Mme. De Fleury)" and dated 1890)
"Mary Cassatt, 1845-1926," Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania, 1939, no. 8, ill.
"The Paintings of Mary Cassatt," Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1966, no. 26, n.p., ill. (titled "Mother and Child")
"Mary Cassatt 1845-1926," National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 1970, no. 44, n.p., ill.
ProvenanceThe artist
Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York (acquired on April 21, 1924 from the above)
Mrs. Ogden Phipps, New York (acquired on December 13, 1939 from the above)
Lilliam Bostwick Phipps, New York (acquired by decent from the above)
Sotheby's, New York, May 25, 1988, lot 175 (cosigned by the estate of the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Sotheby's, New York Private Sales 2024 (acquired from the above)
On View
On viewc. 1885-1887
