After the Bullfight


After the Bullfight, 1873
Mary Cassatt, American, 1844-1926
Oil on canvas, 82.5 x 64 cm (32 1/8 x 25 3/16 in.)
Signed lower left: "M.S.C./Seville/1873"
Bequest of Mrs. Sterling Morton, ARTIC #1969.332
Photo © Joan Ann Lansberry

(From info card)
"At first glance, After the Bullfight seems a skilled portrayal of a picturesque subject popular with 19th-century artists who traveled to Spain to study its "exotic" culture. In the fall of 1872, Mary Cassatt spent several months in Madrid and Seville copying the Old Masters as part of her artistic education. However, this painting also reveals an unexpected modern sensibility in its vigorous brushwork and in the relaxed, seemingly unposed quality of the toreador. Cassatt was likely familiar with the Spanish paintings of France's leading avant-garde painter, Édouard Manet, whose influence is evident here."


Detail of bullfighter's arm...