Mrs. Gardner Cassatt and Her Baby Seated near a Window

Mrs. Gardner Cassatt and Her Baby Seated near a Window, c. 1887. Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926). Drypoint; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Malcolm L. McBride 1960.249 The subject of this portrait, elegant in its minimalism, was Eugenia (Jennie) Carter Cassatt who married the artist’s younger brother, Joseph (Gard) Gardner Cassatt, in 1882. Here she is depicted with her young son, Gardner, born in 1886. Cassatt’s fondness for her sister-in-law is evident in this sensitive portrait, made during a visit the young family made to Paris during the winter of 1887.