In the context of The Child's Bath, discuss the Composition of the Stylistic analysis.
Cassatt also created a cohesive composition through the gestures of the figures and geometrical resonances. The stripes of the mother's dress echo her straight arms, coinciding with the child's linear limbs. The oval shapes of the figures’ heads resemble that of the basin below; the shapes are connected by the diagonals created by the figures.  Interlocking gestures also unify the scene: the contacts of hands on the knee, and the touching of the feet in the basin tie the painting together while conveying the underlying themes of intimacy and tenderness.Overall, art historian Griselda Pollock suggests that unlike Cassatt's previous works, in which these formal devices were used to convey “unexpected symbolic meaning” within an ordinary action, The Child’s Bath underscores the actions of the mother and child rather than their relationship in particular. However, Nancy Mowll Mathews suggests that the two figures appear to be serious and solemn, rather than playful and fully relaxed; this formality of the scene makes the mother and her child seem to be “engaging in a sacred site” and resembles “Madonna washing the feet of the Christ Child”.
Griselda Pollock Nancy Mowll Mathews