The Lamp - Mary Cassatt
Archival giclée
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Description
A refined drypoint and aquatint print by Mary Cassatt, capturing a quiet domestic moment through the lens of Japanese-inspired composition.
The Lamp is a notable example of Mary Cassatt's mastery of the printmaking medium. Produced during her period of intense experimentation with drypoint and aquatint, this work demonstrates the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints on her aesthetic. Cassatt adopted the flattened perspective, bold outlines, and cropped compositions characteristic of the genre, applying these techniques to the domestic subjects she favoured throughout her career.
The composition features a woman seated in a quiet interior, her profile turned away from the viewer. The presence of the lamp, reflected in the mirror behind her, creates a sense of spatial ambiguity. Cassatt uses soft, muted tones to define the forms, relying on the texture of the aquatint to provide depth and shadow. The figure is rendered with a focus on posture and gesture, capturing a moment of stillness. The inclusion of decorative elements, such as the fan and the table setting, adds to the domestic narrative without cluttering the visual field.
This print is part of a series of ten works that Cassatt exhibited in 1891 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. These prints represent a departure from her earlier oil paintings, showing a shift toward a more graphic, linear style. The technical execution, particularly the layering of aquatint to achieve subtle tonal variations, reveals her skill in managing the complexities of the copper plate. By focusing on the private lives of women, Cassatt provides a view into the domestic sphere of the late nineteenth century, stripped of sentimentality and presented with a clear, observational eye.
Return policy
Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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We ship worldwide, printing at the production hub nearest to your delivery address. Delivery times and costs vary by destination — you'll see the options available to you at checkout.
Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
The Lamp - Mary Cassatt
Artist Biography
Mary Cassatt
She grew up in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), in a prosperous family. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she found the instruction restrictive and the male students hostile. She moved to Paris in 1866, copied old masters in the Louvre, and studied privately with several painters before finding her direction with the Impressionists.
Her subject was women and children in domestic settings: mothers bathing infants, women reading, girls at the opera, women having tea. The subject matter sounds conventional. The treatment is not. She observed her subjects with the same unsentimental attention Degas brought to dancers. The compositions are cropped and angled, influenced by Japanese prints and by Degas's habit of painting people from unexpected viewpoints. Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878) shows a child sprawled across a chair with the boredom and physical abandon that adults rarely notice and painters rarely record.
She never married. She was wealthy enough not to need to sell her work. She used her position and her connections to persuade American collectors, particularly the Havemeyers, to buy Impressionist paintings. The Havemeyer collection, much of it acquired on Cassatt's advice, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum. She shaped the taste of American collectors more than any other single individual.
She developed cataracts and was nearly blind by 1914. She stopped painting. She died in 1926, at eighty-two.
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