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Ernesta (Child with Nurse)

Cecilia Beaux American
1894
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 768
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 at the waist. The radical composition and free brushwork reflect Beaux’s appreciation of paintings by Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Moving at her toddler’s pace across a wide expanse of polished floor, Ernesta is a spiritual descendant of Diego Velázquez’s royal children, simultaneously dignified and vulnerable. Mattie’s hand serves as a universal symbol of protection and security, and the large expanse of her apron sets the scale for the child’s diminutive figure.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ernesta (Child with Nurse)
  • Artist: Cecilia Beaux (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1855–1942 Gloucester, Massachusetts)
  • Date: 1894
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 50 1/2 x 38 1/8 in. (128.3 x 96.8 cm)
  • Credit Line: Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1965
  • Object Number: 65.49
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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The Century Magazine, "The Atlantic Fleet in the Spanish War", April 1899, Cecilia Beaux American, Commercial relief process and letterpress
The Century Magazine, "The Atlantic Fleet in the Spanish War", April 1899
Cecilia Beaux
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1899
Ernesta, Cecilia Beaux American, Oil on canvas, American
Ernesta
Cecilia Beaux
1914
Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes, Cecilia Beaux American, Oil on canvas, American
Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes
Cecilia Beaux
1898
Charles Townsend Ludington, Cecilia Beaux American, Oil on canvas
Charles Townsend Ludington
Cecilia Beaux
1900
Plaque, Cecilia Beaux American, Porcelain, American
Plaque
Cecilia Beaux
1879–83

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