cover Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Identification and Creation
Object Number
1937.7.8.1-38
People
John Singer Sargent, American (Florence, Italy 1856 - 1925 London, England)
Title
Sketchbook ("1871-72"): Alpine Travel Sketches and Figure Studies
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
sketchbook
Date
1871 - 1872
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307654
Physical Descriptions
Medium
Sketchbook with black paper-covered cardboard covers and leather spine
Dimensions
11 x 17.4 x 1.8 cm (4 5/16 x 6 7/8 x 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • label: front of sketchbook, paper, black ink, handwritten: 1871 - 72.
  • inscription: back pastedown, graphite: [ ] 1.80 [possibly the price of the sketchbook].
Provenance
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
1937.7.8.1-38
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Descriptions
Description
Sketchbook with black-paper-covered cardboard covers, leather-covered spine; stamped in gilt on front cover: ALBUM. Pages of off-white and beige-gray wove paper. Sewn page block. Sketchbook is incomplete, with thirty-eight pages remaining. Forty-four drawings.The pages are numbered in red-brown ink in the upper right hand corner. Several pages are missing and the page numbering apparently occurred after their removal; missing are one page before p. one; one page after page two; at least one page after page 13; one page after page 25; and one page after page 29. The condition of this sketchbook is fragile; many of the pages are loose and the binding is cracked and brittle.

Contents: Tyrolean landscapes and village scenes, probably documenting Sargent's trip through the Alps in the summer of 1871 with the artist Charles Feodor (Karl Friedrich) Welsch, including views of Fragenstein, Längenfeld, Oezthal, Zillerthal, Mayrhofen, Lofererthal, and Zell am See. Also, figure studies, a portrait, and musical score. Same size and manufacture as 1937.7.5.On the front pastedown are sketches of buildings with columns, a figure, and a painting, in graphite. On the back pastedown is a sketchy landscape drawn in graphite.
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, pp. 20-21

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. 110, under no. 39; p. 111, under no. 40; p. 114 under nos. 45/46

Related Works

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