Mary Cassatt - Lady at the Tea Table 1883-1885
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Lady at the Tea Table 1883-1885
86x73cm oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes
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From Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
This work shows Mary Dickinson Riddle, Cassatt’s mother’s first cousin, presiding at tea, a daily ritual among upper-middle-class women on both sides of the Atlantic. Mrs. Riddle’s hand rests on the handle of a teapot, part of a gilded blue-and-white Canton porcelain service that her daughter had presented to the artist’s family. Painted in response to the gift, the portrait demonstrates Cassatt’s mastery of Impressionism in its sketchlike finish, the casual handling of anatomy, and the sitter’s indifference to the viewer. As Mrs. Riddle’s daughter disliked the portrait, Cassatt kept it until Louisine Havemeyer persuaded her to give it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.