Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Ernesta (Child with Nurse), 1894
    Cecilia Beaux (American, 1855–1942)
    Oil on canvas

    50 1/2 x 38 1/8 in. (128.3 x 96.8 cm)
    Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1965 (65.49)

    Beaux's two-year-old niece and favorite model, Ernesta Drinker (1892–1981), clutches the hand of her nurse, Mattie, whose figure is boldly cropped. The radical composition and free brushwork suggest that Beaux had absorbed the lessons of Manet, Degas, and Velázquez. In 1896, Ernesta was among a group of six works, including Sita and Sarita (1893–94; Musée d'Orsay, Paris), that were shown at the 1896 Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

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    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • "A Bicentennial Treasury: American Masterpieces from the Metropolitan." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 33, no. 4 (Winter, 1975–76).
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  • Ernesta (Child with Nurse), 1894
    Cecilia Beaux (American, 1855–1942)
    Oil on canvas

    50 1/2 x 38 1/8 in. (128.3 x 96.8 cm)
    Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1965 (65.49)