Francoise in Green, Sewing
1908–1909oil on Canvas
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, Gift of the Ida Belle Young Art Acquisition Fund
2009.0006
Nearby other works in which young working-class children are dressed and posed as upper-class children, this painting captures a fair-skinned white girl of about 10 seated, opulently dressed, and engaged with her sewing pastime. This work is 81 by 65 cm and hung in portrait orientation. The work is framed by a gold-coloured wood frame which is 12 cm wide and embellished with carved decorative reliefs.
The girl has fine brown hair parted at the side and falling over her shoulder in loose ringlets. Her hair is held back with a red bow over her left ear. She looks down at her fingers, a hands-length from her face, as they presumably thread a needle. Her top is a cape or shawl-like lacy construction that appears through the painting technique to be like frothy foamy water with layers of bright white peeping through blues, greys and muted white brushstrokes. Her green skirt fills the bottom third of the painting, thick brushstrokes cascade its four vertically striped tiers down towards the observer in a symphony of greens. Sunlight spills into the scene from the left above the girl’s shoulder, highlighting the skirt and giving it a satiny glow. Her temple, cheek, shoulder and arm are also lit, giving them a smooth appearance in contrast to the blurred edges of the painting technique. The light also touches the back and arm of the padded, wide, King Louis the 16th style wooden chair she sits on. The chair back is a brownish grey fabric and has a lightly sketched floral pattern set in a decoratively carved thick wood frame. Behind her on the left is a bright green drape, and to the far right past her shoulder is the edge of a wall. Between them, a glimpse into another room with a muted yellow patterned rug, a chair back, and a section of mantlepiece against a far wall.
The artist's signature is in dark blue at the bottom right of the work.
Exhibition label text:
Cassatt hired this young girl, Francoise, as a model from the rural village near her home at Château Beaufresne, located north of Paris. The artist dressed her in fashionable Parisian clothes and posed her in a sophisticated interior, completely absorbed in her task of needle-threading. Cassatt’s interest was not in making a portrait; rather, she delights in showing the colour and texture of the model’s very full skirt and blouse. The quick strokes made with a loaded brush create a believable pattern. The shades of green repeated in the drapery behind her and the lacy shawl that catches the light form a harmonious and balanced composition. Although this picture expertly captures the inward-looking child, it is really about Cassatt’s craft as an artist.