The Bath

Mary Cassatt

National Gallery of Art

A woman kneels to test the water in a freestanding bathtub with one hand as she braces a nude child against her knee with the other in this vertical, colored print. The people and objects are outlined lightly with brown for the bodies and black for the woman’s clothing. Both the woman and baby’s hair are incised with delicate black lines. The woman’s hair is pulled back from a high forehead, and she has a straight nose, pursed lips, and a slight double chin. Her long-sleeved, floor-length dress has a narrow collar and is pleated across the chest and at the cuff we can see. The dress is filled in with a field of bright lemon yellow and patterned with a floral design. The baby turns toward the woman’s body and hangs their arms over her bracing hand. The baby has short, wispy, black hair with delicate facial features, a rotund belly, and satisfyingly pudgy rolls on the legs. The tub is denim blue, and the water within a paler shade. There are some smudges across the paper, especially at the edges. A mark with an oval, or a mirrored C, over an uppercase M, is stamped in royal blue at the bottom center of the print. The sheet is inscribed with graphite across the right half of the bottom margin. Text reads, “Edition de 25 épreuves Imprimée par l’artiste et M. Leroy Mary Cassatt."