Mother and Mary

Edmund Charles Tarbell

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows two women in a room. At the center of the painting, a young woman is seated at a desk, her hand resting on the back of the chair, opening a small drawer. Her back is to us, but her head is turned to the right, allowing us to see her in profile. She has pale skin and brown hair in an updo behind her head, and she wears a light pink dress with white details around the waist and neck. On the right, an older woman is seated on a bench, engaged in an activity with her hands, perhaps knitting or sewing with strands of pink fabric or yarn. She has pale skin and gray hair pulled back from her face, and she wears a dark blue dress. The room around the women is elegantly furnished, with a wooden table on the left, more wooden chairs, large windows with curtains on either side of the desk, and paintings along the top edge of the yellow wall. The floor is brown and polished, reflecting white and yellow light from the large windows. The brushstrokes in the painting are soft and visible.