Ernesta (Child with Nurse)  1894

by Cecilia Beaux

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 de...
Size: 
50 1/2 x 38 1/8 in. (128.3 x 96.8 cm)
Medium: 
Oil on canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art