Sometimes I think about ...

... how terrible it must have been to be Mary Cassatt.

"Hey, Mary," the other Impressionists might have said to her, "we're off to the Folies-Bergere.  All of us.  Except you.  Enjoy keeping your ankles hidden alone all evening."

I detect much less rage in her work than it feels like there should be ...

I wonder about Christina Rossetti too, as the major female Pre-Raphaelite Brother (a number which, incidentally, also sort of included Emily Dickinson -- and if anyone is interested to read about that I shall make M do a guest post, it's fascinating stuff).  Also incidentally, did you know there were four Rossettis?  Dante Gabriel, Christina, and then William Michael and Maria Francesca -- William Rossetti was a historian and Maria Francesca was an Anglican nun, translator and literary critic.  It kind of sucked to be any member of the Rossetti family except for Dante Gabriel -- their mother was John Polidori's sister but no one knows about that, the two other siblings get almost no attention even on Wikipedia, and then there's Christina.  "Have a nice night, Sis; the rest of the Pre-Raphaelites are going carousing after the meeting.  Without you.  Enjoy minding the wallaby."

At least in her case I can imagine her hand vibrating with fury as she dedicated Goblin Market.