CLAUDE (CLAUDINE) RAGUET HIRST Still Life with Books.
Watercolor on paper adhered to board. 490x573 mm; 19 1/4x22 1/2 inches. Signed and inscribed "N.Y." in watercolor, lower right recto.
Born in Cincinnati, Hirst (1855-1942), who adopted the masculine version of her name when she began exhibiting actively in the early 1870s, moved to New York around 1880 to pursue art. She incorporated a trompe l'oeil style and favored "bachelor still lifes" that depicted library table scenes with items such as pipes, liquor bottles, playing cards and books.
