I really dig this Mary Cassatt portrait, Lady at the Tea Table, 1885 because it is so realistic! It is so detailed. The prints and the texture…omg! It is a painting of Cassatt’s cousin, Mary Dickinson Riddle with a tea set, literally from China. I seriously would not have been able to take a better picture with my camera.

It was presented as a gift to the Riddle family. Despite the near lifelike appearance, the daughter of the model didn’t like it. She thought her mother’s nose looked too big. Cassatt would end up keeping it, until someone suggested that she give it to the Metropolitan Museum of art.

She was so talented! No wonder she was one of the three women of the elite Impressionists. You can see Lady at the Tea Table in person at The Met.

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