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Mother and Child, Colby College Museum of Art

The sitter has not been identified. The statue, of cupids possibly surrounding a bowl, suggests that Whistler added a detail from the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris. It is unlikely that the model posed there!

The Steps, Luxembourg c068, a lithograph drawn in the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, in October/November 1893, shows some of the garden statuary with two cupids supporting a wide bowl.

Several of Whistler's preparatory sketches for lithographs show the gardens, i. e. The Terrace, Luxembourg [M.1332], Seated woman in Luxembourg Gardens [M.1401] and Statue in Luxembourg Gardens [M.1400].