Young Girl with a Cat, after a portrait of Julie Manet by Renoir

A young girl with a cat gazes out from this drypoint print, her soft features and the cat's fur rendered with delicate lines. The subject is Julie Manet, the daughter of fellow Impressionist Édouard Manet and Eugène Manet, and the niece of Berthe Morisot. Morisot frequently depicted domestic scenes and portraits of women and children, often her own family members. Here, she captures a moment of quiet companionship, the girl’s posture suggesting a natural ease with her pet. The drypoint technique, which involves scratching directly into a copper plate with a sharp point, allows for a spontaneity that aligns with the Impressionist focus on capturing fleeting impressions of life. The resulting burr (raised metal) around the lines creates a velvety, soft quality, visible in the subtle shading and textures of the print.