One of the most prominent American painters of the 19th century,Mary Cassatt was renowned for intimate portraits of women and children, such as this vibrant depiction of a baby and wet nurse from 1893. A student of Edgar Degas, who had revolutionized pastel drawing in the 1860s and 1870s, Cassatt used the medium to richly varied effect. Here, she contrasts the sitters’ richly modeled faces with the flat, decorative patterns of their garments and the background. Finished and unfinished passages create subtle psychological tensions that are underscored by the sitters’ dreamy, disconnected expressions. Under the influence of her friend and fellow Impressionist Edgar Degas—whose work Dancer hangs nearby—Mary Cassatt began experimenting with pastels in the 1870s. In the Garden shows how Cassatt came to relish the velvety texture and luminous color of the medium. Starting with a sheet of blue-gray paper (which has now faded to tan), Cassatt first laid out the basic composition with an oily black pastel. She then applied several layers of pastel, creating a sophisticated interplay among the black outlines, the patterns of the clothing and background, and the rich modeling of the figures’ faces, wherein Cassatt has alternated strokes of pink, white, and peach with blue and light green.