Mary Cassatt

Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22 February 1963, no. 24 (as Mère et Enfant)

(probably) Adolphe Stein, Paris

(probably) Findlay Galleries, Chicago, Illinois

Sotheby's London, 23 October 1963, no. 66 (as Mère et Enfant)

Acquavella Galleries, New York

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Orman, Miami, Florida (acquired by 1971)

Christie's New York, 1 June 1984, lot 190

Private Collection (acquired from the above)

Sotheby's New York, 6 March 2019, lot 117 (consigned by the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Art Quarterly, vol. 26, issue 4, 1963, p. 508

Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors, and Drawings, Washington, D.C., 1970, no. 242, p. 116, illustrated 

Richard H. Love, Cassatt: The Independent, Chicago, Illinois, 1980, p. 34, illustrated

This charming pastel appears to be a study for a portrait of Louisine Havemeyer and her daughter Electra. Havemeyer was perhaps the most prominent American patron of Impressionist art at the turn of the twentieth century, and Mary Cassatt played a pivotal role in the development of her collection. "I call [Cassatt] my fairy godmother of my collection," said Havemeyer, "for the best things I own have been bought on her judgement and advice" (quoted in Shelburne Museum, Cassatt/Havemeyer: Art, Collection, and Social Influence).