CAROLINE WATSON IS A fictional character, but in creating her I have drawn upon details of the lives of actual painters, particularly Cecilia Beaux, Mary Cassatt, and Suzanne Valadon. Of great help to me were Cecilia Beaux’s autobiography, Background with Figures, and the letters of Mary Cassatt and Paula Modersohn-Becker.
In addition, my deepest thanks go to Linda Nochlin for her advice on art history and art historians, and to Alexander Martin for helping me to understand how a painter paints.