Mary CASSATT (1844-1926). Françoise à la couture - 1909. Watercolor on paper. Signed lower right. 50.8 x 35.6 cm. Provenance: - Artist's studio - Durand-Ruel collection, Paris - Sale by Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 29, 1914 - Mancini collection in 1917 - Galerie Carpentier sale, Paris, June 13, 1958 (catalog no. 5) - Tajan sale, Paris, December 9, 2008 (catalog no. 14) - Sotheby's New York sale, October 6, 2021 (catalog no. 65, sold for $35,000 plus expenses) - Private collection. Bibliography: - "Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot du 20 juin 1958" (reproduced in sales results under the title "Fillette") - "Mary Cassatt. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oils, Pastels, Watercolors and Drawings" by Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, Washington, 1970 (reproduced under no. 660 p. 231). Exhibitions: - "Tableaux, Pastels, Dessins et Pointes-Sèches par Mary Cassatt", Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 1914 (catalog no. 30 under the title "Fillette" Note: Mary Cassatt is the most famous American Impressionist painter. After studying at the Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts, she arrived in Paris in 1865. A student of Jean-Léon Gérôme, she discovered Impressionism at Barbizon. Portraits, particularly of children, remained her favorite subject, as evidenced by this signed watercolor from 1908, entitled Françoise à la couture, a preparatory work for the painting listed under number 538 of the artist's catalog raisonné, "Françoise en vert cousant". The little girl named Françoise was one of the painter's favorite models during this period, who depicted her in many moments of her daily life, as here sewing. Not content with being a great artist, she was also an essential link in the Franco-American cultural dialogue, and played a vital role as an ambassador for Impressionism across the Atlantic.