Mary's father was the city's mayor, and the family belonged to Trinity Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh. The well-to-do Cassatts left Allegheny to live in Lancaster and the Philadelphia, before moving to Europe. After four years of private tutors and touring through Europe, Mary returned to the United States fluent in French and German.
The Cassatts settled in Philadelphia, and 16-year-old Mary attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. At age 21, Mary returned to Europe where she hoped to establish herself as a serious artist. Although he has some success, she eventually returned to the United States when the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870.
The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh was pivotal in providing Mary's big break as an artist. In 1871, Bishop Michael Domenec commissioned her to create reproductions of works by the Italian Renaissance painter, Antonio da Correggio, for the cathedral. He gave her a $300 commission, and Mary returned to Europe to copy two of Correggio's paintings.
After completing her commission for the bishop, Mary made a new home for herself in Paris and became friends with such artists as Degas and other French Impressionists. When she died in 1926 in Paris at the age of 82, she had become known for her oil paintings of women, children and flowers. Mary Cassatt is also credited with introducing French Impressionism to American collectors.
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw