2-744-806 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Lamp, 1890-1891. The theme of a bourgeois woman "at home," coiffed and dressed to greet visitors, was a familiar one in Cassatt’s work, utilized in compositions such as Mimi as a Brunette. The position of the model as seen from behind may reflect the consideration of the nape of a woman’s neck as the ultimate symbol of beauty and eroticism in Japan.