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Elizabeth Nourse (1859–1938)
La Mére (Mother and Child), 1888
Oil on canvas; 45 1/2 x 32 in. (116.6 x 81.4 cm)
Salon, 1888
Cincinnati Art Museum, Gift of The Procter & Gamble Company
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Nourse, who settled in Paris in 1887 and studied briefly with Carolus-Duran and at the Académie Julian, specialized in portraying humble subjects, especially peasant women. She made her Salon debut with this image of maternal tenderness, an archetypal theme that engaged the popular imagination at the time, as the roles of women were being redefined. Nourse's composition reveals her command of draftsmanship, chiaroscuro, and vigorous brushwork as well as her ability to appeal to human emotion without undue sentimentality.
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