Young Mother Sewing

On this day in 1844 the American artist, Mary Cassatt, was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women. In about 1890 Cassatt redirected her art toward women caring for children and children alone—themes that reflected her affection for her nieces and nephews and the prevailing cultural interest in child rearing. 

The work depicts a mother engaged in the act of sewing while seated in front of a window. A young child in a white dress leans on her mother's lap while gazing out of the picture plane toward the viewer. The woman wears a striped dress covered by a green apron that mirrors the greens in the grass outside the window. According to the Metropolitan Museum, the artist used two unrelated models as the mother and child.

P.S. See another lovely painting of Mary Cassatt here depicting Little Girl in a Blue Armchair. <3