Mary Cassatt's Painting, A Woman and A Girl Driving

A Woman and A Girl Driving by Mary Cassett (1881)

This is an interesting painting from an artistic point of view. The little girl is said to be Edgar Degas' niece and the woman driving is the artist's terminally ill sister. The technical application of light and color is the hallmark of the Impressionist movement, Cassett was a contemporary of Degas, Manet and Renoir. An American living in Paris, Cassett painted this portrait in 1881, and anyone who is a fan of Impressionist art will see the influences of all three more famous painters in its application.

Now, being the art critic I am, there are things to be celebrated in this work. But being the carriage critic does raise a few trifling flaws to the vehicle and carriage. I'm glad I wasn't the one driving that vehicle, what? A Dos a Dos Meadowbrook? With a kicking strap? The position of those shafts? Lamps on the dash? I fear for the groom were they to hit a bump...

Artistic license. That would never pass a safety check today.