Printed c. 1900; included in "Camera Notes" Vol. 4 No.1, July 1900. Image size is 9.4 x 5.6 inches (23.4 x 14.2 cm). Sheet size is 11.25 x 7.12 inches (28.5 x 18 cm).

Exemplifying the Victorian sensibility and painterly effects of Käsebier's best-known photography, this iconic work was one of three by the artist that appeared in the July 1900 issue of "Camera Notes," edited by renowned Alfred Stieglitz and considered the most important photography journal of its time. In January 1903, this work also appeared in the inaugural issue of the Stieglitz-edited magazine "Camera Work," alongside works by Edward Steichen and Clarence H. White.

Gertrude Käsebier (American, 1852-1934) was a leading Pictorialist photographer. A member of the Photo-Secessionists, Käsebier strove to achieve painterly effects in her photographic work, frequently retouching negatives or rephotographing altered prints in order to achieve the soft and luminous effect for which her work was acclaimed at the time. Käsebier's photographs of mothers and children were particularly popular, and her simplified compositions, with few elaborate backdrops or props, were widely imitated. Married with children by the time she embarked upon an artistic career, Käsebier was initially interested in portrait painting, and attended the Pratt Institute from 1889 to 1893. In 1895, Käsebier became an assistant to the portrait photographer Samuel H. Lifshey, and soon opened her own studio. She would go on to become a renowned portrait photographer in her own right and a founding member of the Pictorial Photographers of America. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, among others.