2-734-729 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: The Etruscan Gallery, 1879-1880. As in Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, the Paintings Gallery Degas once again depicted Cassatt and her sister Lydia at the Louvre. In this iteration of the subject, Casatt gazes intently at an Etruscan tomb, about 500 BC, excavated at Cerveteri, the largest ancient necropolis in the Mediterranean. Cassatt is viewed from behind while the enigmatically smiling couple, lying on top of a sarcophagus and enclosed in a glass case, face the viewer. Cassatt confronts the sculpture directly while Lydia reads about it in a guidebook.