Autumn, Portrait of Lydia Cassatt

Cassatt posed her elder sister Lydia in the garden of their summer home at Marly-sur-Roi, west of Paris. One of Cassatt's earliest paintings made outdoors, the portrait contrasts Lydia's carefully rendered gloved hands with the loose, lively brushwork of her dress and the surrounding plants. Lydia, who had lived with Cassatt since 1877 and was diagnosed with Bright's disease the following year, became a frequent subject during the sisters' years together.