Lydia Crocheting in the Garden at Marly

1880

Oil on canvas, 65.6 × 92.6 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Cassatt's older sister Lydia sits crocheting in a sunlit walled garden, dressed far more formally than the task requires. Lydia was the relative Cassatt painted most often in these years.

One of Cassatt's few outdoor paintings, it catches the strong sunlight of a summer garden. Painting in the open air, in full daylight, was central to Impressionist practice.
Painted in summer 1880 at Marly-le-Roi, where the Cassatt family spent the season.
Hand needlework grew more prized in wealthy homes as factory-made textiles spread.
Look at the large, close figure set against the path and dark flower beds behind.
Mrs. Gardner Cassatt gave it to the Met in 1965.

Well-off Paris families often spent the summer in villages such as Marly-le-Roi. Needlework, reading and visits filled the days of women of Cassatt's class.

Image: Wikimedia Commons (CC0 file from The Met's Open Access release) · CC0