Mary Cassatt was an outstanding, influential artist and feminist of her time. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - at the time, known as Allegheny City which was later appended to Pittsburgh - in May 1844 to a family of the American upper middle class. Robert Simpson Cassat, her father (who added the extra “t” later on) was a stockbroker and would often invest in acquiring promising lands. Although during her lifetime, her father would always supply her with financial support, he wasn’t supportive of her decision to become an artist. Her mother, Katherine Kelso Johnston, on the other hand, would encourage Cassatt to travel and was passionate about literature and culture in general.