Mary Cassatt
Children in a Garden (The Nurse)

ArtistAmerican,1844–1926, active France
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Children in a Garden (The Nurse)
Date1878
PlaceFrance
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 25 3/4 × 31 7/8 in. (65.4 × 81 cm)
Frame: 33 1/8 × 39 3/8 × 3 in. (84.1 × 100 × 7.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Meredith J. Long
Object number2001.471
Not on view

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Department
American Art
Object Type
Description

Mary Cassatt became well known for her paintings that depict women and children in domestic settings. Children in a Garden (The Nurse) is the first major Impressionist canvas of the outdoors that she painted, and it is one of her early masterworks. She included it in the eighth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris in 1886, and in her first major U.S. solo exhibition in 1895.


The painting shows a nursemaid knitting while seated on a bench in a flower-bordered garden. One of her charges sleeps in a nearby carriage, and the other plays at her feet. As with much of Cassatt’s work that was based on closely studying family, friends, and servants, this scene offers an intimate glimpse into the private lives of the subjects and portrays the charming characteristics of children and babies without the sentimentality that distinguished so many paintings of the time.


Unusual for Cassatt, however, is the work’s looser application of paint, its off-center composition, and its emphasis on the landscape. The bright sunlight knits the composition together; brilliant colors sweep through the canvas; and expertly articulated figures show the artist’s disciplined draftsmanship and her ability to make them lifelike through careful dabs of paint. For example, the slightly downturned mouth of the baby in its carriage, along with the hand nestled against its face for comfort, indicate deep, peaceful sleep.


ProvenanceHirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Exhibition History"The Art of Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)," The American Federation of Arts, New York, June–August, 1981.

"American Impressionism," Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, March 30–May 30, 1982; National Gallery, East Berlin, June 15–July 25, 1982; Museum Moderner Kunst, Schweizergarten, Vienna, August 15–September 25, 1982; Art Museum, Socialist Republic, Bucharest, October 24–November 24, 1982; National Art Gallery, Sofia, December 26, 1982–February 31, 1983.

"American Painters in the Age of Impressionism," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 4, 1994–March 26, 1995.

"The Age of Innocence: American Impressionism & Its Influence," San Antonio Museum of Art, June 29–September 1, 1996.

"Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman," The Art Institute of Chicago, October 10, 1998–January 10, 1999. (Titled as Children in a Garden).

"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

"Mary Cassatt Retrospective," Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan, June 25–September 11, 2016; National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, September 27, 2016–December 4, 2016.

"Impressionism in the Age of Industry," Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, February 16–May 5, 2019.

"Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France," Denver Art Museum, November 14, 2021–March 13, 2022; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, April 16–July 31, 2022.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Drypoint on wove paper
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Drypoint on wove paper
2022.333
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Mary Cassatt
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Soft ground etching with aquatint on laid paper, state II/II
2021.602
Standing woman, Double-sided study for the etching Afternoon Promenade
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Recto: Graphite on wove paper Verso: Transferred soft ground on wove paper
2021.835.B
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Mary Cassatt
1881
Recto: Graphite on wove paper Verso: Transferred soft ground on wove paper
2021.835.A
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Drypoint and aquatint on laid paper, state III/III
2005.974