Mary Cassatt 1844 - 1926

Mathilde Valet, Chateau de Beaufresne, France (sold: Galerie A.M. Reitlinger, Paris, France, "Mathilde X" sale, May-June 1931, lot 6, illustrated, as Promenade sur l'eau)
Theodore Schempp, New York
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester, Chicago, Illinois, by 1941 (acquired from the above)
The Art Institute of Chicago, 1947 (gift from the above; sold: Christie's, New York, May 29, 1987, lot 175, illustrated)
Mickelson Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1987

Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore Museum of Art, Mary Cassatt, November 1941-January 1942, no. 26 (as Feeding the Ducks)
Omaha, Nebraska, Joslyn Art Museum, Mary Cassatt Among the Impressionists, April-June 1969, no. 16, illustrated
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art; Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts; Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williams College Museum of Art; Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints, June 1989-January 1990, no. 18-1, pp. 50, 174, 178, illustrated p. 175

Charles Kunstler, "Les expositions--Mary Cassatt (Reitlinger)," Beaux-Arts 9, June 1931, p. 20 (as Promenade sur l'eau)
Daniel Catton Rich, Catalogue of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings, Chicago, Illinois, 1938, p. 57
Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, The Graphic Work of Mary Cassatt, New York, 1948, p. 76
Frederick A. Sweet, "Paintings and Pastels by Mary Cassatt in the Collection of The Art Institute," Museum Studies 2, Chicago, Illinois, 1967, pp. 42, 49 n. 8, illustrated
Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings, Washington, D.C., 1970, no. 233, p. 113, illustrated
John E. Bullard, Mary Cassatt, Oils and Pastels, New York, 1972, p. 58
Natalie Spassky, Mary Cassatt, New York, 1984, p. 18
The Armand Hammer Collection, Los Angeles, California, 1985, p. 141
Alison Effeny, Cassatt: The Masterworks, New York, 1991, p. 118
William H. Gerdts, "American Art and the French Experience," Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865-1915, Evanston, Illinois, 1992, p. 118 n. 86
Maria Constantino, Mary Cassatt, New York, 1995, pp. 60-1
Gerhard Gruitrooy, Mary Cassatt, An American Impressionist, New York, 1996, p. 58


 

This work is in very good condition. The canvas is unlined. There are scattered pinholes near the four corners of the canvas. Under UV: there is no apparent inpainting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Themes of childhood and maternity occupy an important place in Mary Cassatt’s oeuvre. These subjects, which she first started exploring in the 1880s, were almost exclusively the focus of her work after 1900. On the Water was painted circa 1894, around the time of Cassatt’s second one-woman exhibition at Durand-Ruel’s Paris Gallery. “The exhibition was well received by both the French public and the critics. In the catalogue for the show, André Mellario ended his introduction by stating, ‘Cassatt is perhaps, along with Whistler, the only artist of eminent talent, personal and distinguished, that America actually possesses'” (E. John Bullard, Mary Cassatt, Oils and Pastels, Washington, D.C., 1972). On the Water was likely painted at Château de Beaufresne, located 50 miles north of Paris, which Cassatt purchased in 1894 and where she summered for the remainder of her life.

This painting is related to a color print over drypoint titled Feeding the Ducks, executed circa 1894, an example of which is the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 1).