Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Paintings Gallery by Edgar Degas, created between 1879 and 1880, is a masterful example of late 19th-century French printmaking. The work is a complex graphic creation, employing a sophisticated combination of etching, softground etching, aquatint, and drypoint. This multi-technique approach allowed Degas to achieve a remarkable range of tones and textures, from the velvety blacks characteristic of drypoint to the nuanced gray washes made possible by aquatint.
The subject captures the American expatriate artist Mary Cassatt, a frequent collaborator and associate of Degas, examining art within the iconic halls of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. This print is less a formal portrait and more an intimate observation of modern life. Degas was deeply interested in documenting contemporary activities, including women engaged in professional or intellectual pursuits. Here, Cassatt is depicted studying a gallery painting, embodying the new professional status of women artists during this period.
The delicate rendering of the interior space and the figures demonstrates Degas's technical skill and his commitment to elevating fine art prints. Unlike many contemporaries who viewed printmaking as merely reproductive, Degas approached the medium with the originality and intensity he reserved for his paintings and pastels. The resulting image offers viewers a fascinating glimpse into the social and artistic dynamics of Impressionist circles. This important work is held in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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