Cassatt is best known for her large impressionist paintings, but she was also an adventuresome and experimental printmaker. While living in France as an expatriate, she created etchings that portray the daily rituals of childcare within the homes of upper-middle-class Parisian women. One of these, Maternal Caress, dates to a series of 10 color prints that she completed for an 1891 exhibition at the Galerie Durand-Ruel, a prominent impressionist gallery in Paris. The flat, two-dimensional composition and large blocks of color exemplify her interest in the aesthetics of Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut prints, while her quick, gestural linework and her idiosyncratic choice of poses showcase her ability to capture a sense of informality and spontaneity in her subjects.

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)