Sewing near the Window

This watercolor depicts Euphrasie, or Pasie, the nanny for Berthe Morisot’s young daughter Julie. Pasie appears in the artist’s apartment, sewing before a window during a contemplative moment. As with many of Morisot’s works in the medium, she used this example to develop the composition of a future painting into which she added Julie and more tightly cropped the scene. Watercolor was a constant interest for Morisot, and she practiced it from around 1870 throughout the rest of her career, creating both finished and preparatory works.