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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1937.7.21.1-18
People
John Singer Sargent, American (Florence, Italy 1856 - 1925 London, England)
Title
Sketchbook ("Carnation/ Lily"): Sketches for Paintings
Other Titles
Alternate Title: "Carnation/Lily," containing sketches for "El Jaleo", "R.L. Stevenson", "Mme. X"
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
sketchbook
Date
1880-1885
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299804

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Sketchbook with beige cloth-covered cardboard covers
Dimensions
25.5 x 35 cm (10 1/16 x 13 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: cover of sketchbook, paper, brown ink, and graphite, handwritten: [brown ink:] Carnation / Lily; [in graphite:] & Flowers. [graphite, different hand:] El Jaleo / R. L. Stevenson / Mme X.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
To the artist's sisters, Violet (Mrs. Francis) Ormond and Emily Sargent, at his death, 1925; gift of Mrs. Ormond to the Fogg Art Museum, 1937.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond
Accession Year
1937
Object Number
1937.7.21.1-18
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Sketchbook with beige cloth-covered cardboard covers; pencil sleeve; remains of cloth ties. Pages of off-white, blue, and brown wove paper. Sewn page block. Sketchbook is incomplete, with seventeen pages remaining. One page, now numbered 9, was inserted later, but was not originally part of this sketchbook. Twenty-five drawings.The pages are numbered in red-brown ink in the upper right corner. The page numbered "8" is missing or has been removed from the sketchbook subsequent to numbering; a page is missing after page 9, a page is missing after page 13, and two pages are missing at the end of the book. The condition of the sketchbook is fragile, and many of the pages are loose.

Contents: Studies for "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" (1885-86, Tate Gallery); studies of Mme. Gautreau; studies for "El Jaleo" (1882, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) and sketches of dancers for "El Jaleo" or "The Spanish Dance" (1880, Hispanic Society, New York); studies for a portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson (1885, private collection); sketches from a theatrical performance identified by David Fraser Jenkins of the Tate Gallery (in conversation, July 1997) as Tristan and Isolde; figure studies and sketches of faces.

Publication History

  • Miriam Stewart and Kerry Schauber, "Catalogue of Sketchbooks and Albums by John Singer Sargent at the Fogg Art Museum", Harvard University Art Museums Bulletin (Cambridge, MA, Fall 1999 - Winter 2000), vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 16-38, p. 27
  • Stephanie Herdrich and Helen Barbara Weinberg, American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 2000), p. 185 and ff.; p. 188, under no. 180
  • Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1883-1899, Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven and London, 2010), p. 120
  • Elizabeth Doe Stone, "Mobility and the Matter of Memory: John Singer Sargent's 'Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife'", Art History (March 2019), pp. 1-25, pp. 8-10

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu