Writing

Writing was painted at Schuylenburg, a country house near Egmond in the Netherlands that had belonged to the American expatriate artist George Hitchcock, with whom Melchers formed a close friendship during his years living in the region. The model is almost certainly Melchers's wife, Corinne Lawton Mackall, whom he married in 1903 and who regularly served as his subject for domestic interior scenes. Melchers was Detroit-born but spent the central years of his career in Egmond, becoming the most prominent American painter working in the Netherlands in the late 19th century. In 1889 he shared with John Singer Sargent the distinction of being the first Americans to win a prize at the Paris Universal Exposition. The painting is held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.