Under the Horse-Chestnut Tree

Mary Cassatt's drypoint and aquatint print Under the Horse-Chestnut Tree revisits her favorite mother and child theme in this image of a dark-haired woman, viewed from behind as she sits on the ground, lifting up and admiring a golden-haired nude child who gazes back at her. The young boy's extended left hand almost touches the woman's upturned nose, intimating the wordless bond between the pair. Cassatt used delicate drypoint lines to outline each figure, to articulate their hair, and to indicate the subtle contours of their facial features, such as the woman's chin, and the child's body.  In contrast, she applied aquatint color in flat, unmodulated expanses, including the woman's spotted yellow skirt and deep blue blouse, as well as three broad areas that compose the setting: the light blue sky, the leafy tree branch that extends into view from the upper edge of the composition, and the expanse of green lawn completely surrounding the woman and stretching away toward the high horizon.

This print, along with By the Pond (TF 1999.25) and The Barefooted Child (TF 1992.8), was among the last color aquatints Cassatt made, bringing to a close a remarkable graphic exploration of printed color by this extraordinary American artist.

An American Revelation: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 28–October 1, 1988.

American Painters in France, 1830–1930, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 14–September 3, 1989. [exh. cat.]

 Face, Figure and Form: Art and the Human Condition, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Museum, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (organizer). Venue: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Museum, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 19–March 4, 1990.

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

Regard sur Mary Cassatt (Mary Cassatt at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 2–October 31, 1996.

(Re)Presenting Women, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.

D'une colonie à une collection: le Musée d'Art Américain Giverny fête ses dix ans (From a Colony to a Collection: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, March 30–June 16, 2002.

Mary Cassatt, graveur impressionniste (Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Printmaker), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 3, 2005. [exh. cat.]

Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.

Breeskin, Adelyn Dohme. Mary Cassatt: A Catalogue Raisonne of the Graphic Work. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979. No. 162, p. 67; ill. p. 155 (black & white).

Mathews, Nancy Mowll. Mary Cassatt. New York: Abrams in association with National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1987. Text pp. 110, 113; ill. no. 99, p. 111 (black & white impression from The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Mathews, Nancy Mowll and Barbara Stern Shapiro. Mary Cassatt: The Color Prints. (exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts). Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts, 1989. No. 20 (third state), p. 182. [specific reference to Terra print]

Mazur, Michael. "The Case for Cassatt." The Print Collector's Newsletter 20:6 (January–February 1990): 197–201. Text p. 201. [specific reference to Terra print]

Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 248, 251, 254; pl. 77, p. 257 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 248, 251, 254; pl. 77, p. 257 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Ill. p. 110 (color). [specific reference to Terra print]

Adelson, Warren et al. Mary Cassatt: Prints and Drawings from the Artist's Studio. (exh. cat., Adelson Galleries, Inc.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2000. Text pp. 110–11; ill. pp. 110–11 (color).

Mary Cassatt: Impressions. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2005; Paris: Le Passage Paris–New York Éditions, 2005. Text p. 57 (checklist); ill. p. 73 (color).