Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading

Mrs. Duffee Seated on a Striped Sofa, Reading (1876, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) depicts a woman absorbed in a book, seated on a boldly striped sofa — a subject and setting that reflect Cassatt's interest in capturing women in states of active intellectual engagement. By 1876 she was preparing to align herself with the Impressionists, and the boldly patterned sofa anticipates the decorative elements she would integrate more fully in subsequent years. The reading subject connects to her earlier portrait of her mother with Le Figaro, asserting the legitimacy of female intellectual life.

The bold stripes of the sofa provide a strong geometric element that Cassatt uses to create visual rhythm against the figure. Her handling in 1876 is transitional — more tightly finished than her mature work but already showing her interest in pattern, strong local color, and the specific physical engagement of women with their domestic environments.