id: 105074 accession number: 1923.29 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.29 updated: Cameo, No. 1 (Mother and Child), c. 1890–1893. James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903). Etching; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1923.29 title: Cameo, No. 1 (Mother and Child) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1890–1893 creation date earliest: 1885 creation date latest: 1898 current location: creditline: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King copyright: --- culture: America, 19th century technique: etching department: Prints collection: PR - Etching type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Kennedy 347 --- CREATORS * James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903) - artist --- measurements: state of the work: only state edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Paris opening date: 2012-10-04T00:00:00 Mary Cassatt and the Feminine Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Paris. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 14, 2012-January 20, 2013). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Among a group of etchings Whistler made from a nude or partly draped model around 1890 was a pair entitled Cameo No. 1 and Cameo No. 2, showing a young mother playing with her child. Here, the mother leans over the child in an enclosed, protective gesture, perhaps whispering a lullaby. Whistler's treatment of the figure's robe, a semi-classical design based on Roman dress, captured the translucent qualities of the drapery which partly reveals and partly conceals the form beneath. Of this group, the artist's favorite etching was Cameo No. 1, and in 1893 he chose it to be exhibited among a selection of his prints at the Chicago World's Fair. American collectors, however, found Cameo No. 1 too risqué, and the artist was told it was unsalable because of "the thinness of the drapery." --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.29/1923.29_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.29/1923.29_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.29/1923.29_full.tif