Mother Playing with Child (ca. 1897) drawing by Mary Cassatt by Studio POPPY

Mother Playing with Child (ca. 1897) drawing by Mary Cassatt. Original from The MET Museum.

After her arrival in Parma, she submitted another work for the Paris Salon of 1872, Two Women Throwing Flowers During Carnival, which was well received and sold. She was instantly a sought after figure in the Parmesan art community.

After finishing the copies of Correggio's works, she traveled to Madrid and Seville. Her acquaintance with the works of Diego Velázquez and Murillo brought about a significant change in her style. She made several canvases in Spain with specifically contemporary Spanish subjects, but no longer painted after the example of the old masters, but rather in the style of Édouard Manet. Her focus on the present event is aptly illustrated with the canvas Offering the Panade to the Bullfighter. The contrasting colors applied with robust brush strokes create a lively surface structure. We also recognize in this work two features of Cassatt's later work, namely the cutting of the figures so that they come fully to the fore and the lack of anecdotal content. In 1874 she decided to settle permanently in Paris. Her sister Lydia comes to live with her.

Cassatt became a fierce critic of the Salon's judging system. She was convinced that works by female artists would be rejected if they had no connection with the jury. When one of her two submitted works is refused in 1875, the gates of the dam are for her. She gets into an argument over the subject with her roomma