Cecilia Beaux
Cecilia Beaux | 1855–1942 | Ernesta (Child with Nurse) 1894 | Oil on canvas | 128.3 x 96.8cm | Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund 1965 (65.49) | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Photograph courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Ernesta (Child with Nurse) 1894
Cecilia Beaux's (1855–1942) two-year-old niece and favourite model, Ernesta Drinker (1892–1981), clutches the hand of her nurse, Mattie, whose figure is boldly cropped. The radical composition and free brushwork suggest that Beaux had absorbed the lessons of Manet, Degas and Velázquez. In 1896, Ernesta 1894 was one of a group of six works, including Sita and Sarita (1893–94, Musée d'Orsay, Paris), that were shown at the 1896 Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
