We look slightly down onto a young woman sitting at a writing desk as she licks an envelope in this vertical, color print. A table folds down or extends from a tall secretary desk to our right. The blotter on the table and the woman’s long dress are both royal blue. The dress has a vaguely floral pattern in tan, and the jacket is open to reveal a vertically pleated, beige-pink shirt beneath. The woman’s skin is faintly tinted almost yellow. Her black hair is pulled back over dark brows and a delicate nose. She holds the open flap of the envelope to her mouth with both hands. A piece of white paper lies on the desktop in front of her. She sits in a brown chair, and the wallpaper of the room is patterned with green and muted brown flowers against a white background. The sheet is inscribed with graphite across the right half of the bottom margin, “Edition de 25 épreuves Imprimée par l'artiste et M. Leroy Mary Cassatt.”
Artwork Details
- Date
- 1890-1891
- Medium
- color softground etching, drypoint and aquatint on laid paper
- Dimensions
- 4662 × 6668 px
- Public Domain
- Yes
- Museum Record
- View original