Mary Cassatt

7 Pages 1730 Words

ed in 1870.
Recently after the Franco-Prussian War began in 1870, Cassatt unenthusiastically returned home and directly encountered obstacles that threatened to put an end to her career. Living with her parents in a small town right outside Philadelphia, she began having conflicts with finding people that would be willing to model for her. To make matters worse, her father announced that he would provide for her basic needs, but not for anything connected with her work. In an attempt to raise some money, she left some of her paintings with an art dealer in New York, but he was unable to interest any buyers. She then took them to a dealer in Chicago, where they were all destroyed in the catastrophic fire of 1871.
Mary Cassatt made a decision to choose a career in art over a future in marriage. Cassatt was close to hopelessness when the archbishop of Pittsburgh contacted her in late 1871 and commissioned her to paint copies of two works by the Italian master Correggio. Since the originals were on display in Parma, Italy, she accepted the assignment and left immediately for Europe. She used the money she had earned to travel and resume her career in Europe. The Paris Salon acc...