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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1937.11
People
John Singer Sargent, American (Florence, Italy 1856 - 1925 London, England)
Title
Album; Studies for "Israel and the Law," Boston Public Library
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
album
Date
1895 - 1916
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307690

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Album with green cloth-covered cardboard covers
Dimensions
64.8 x 52.6 x 5 cm (25 1/2 x 20 11/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
page: 63.5 x 50.5 cm (25 x 19 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • stamp: cover and spine, gold paint?, stamped: Studies for Israel and the Law

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
1937.11
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Album with green-cloth-covered cardboard covers, leather-covered spine and corners; additional protective cloth flaps [inside]; and remains of green silk ties. Marbled-paper-covered endpapers. Stamped in gilt on front cover and spine: STUDIES FOR ISRAEL AND THE LAW. Drawings adhered to paper guards with cloth tape and bound with 111 interleaving sheets of cream wove paper. Drawings numbered in red pencil at lower right.

Contents: Studies of figures and details from the lunette depicting "Israel and the Law," on the east wall of the Boston Public Library. Details include drapery studies, studies of arms and legs, and positional studies for the angels at the sides of the painting; also featured are sketches of a female model (Beatrice Stuart) who apparently modeled for the faces of the angels. One sketch of a vaulting with Hebrew letters inscribed. Bound in with these drawings is a figure study for "Atlas and the Hesperides," a rondel at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Publication History

  • Trevor J. Fairbrother, "A Private Album: John Singer Sargent's Studies of Nude Male Models", Arts Magazine (December 1981), vol. LVI, no. 4, p. 77, note 2
  • Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond, John Singer Sargent, exh. cat., Tate Gallery Publishing Limited (London, England, 1998), p. 200, under no. 91
  • 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. 37-38
  • Mary Crawford Volk, The Evocative Line: Preparatory Sketches for "Israel and the Law" by John Singer Sargent, exh. cat., Vose Galleries of Boston, Inc. (Boston, MA, 2004), pp. 7-8, notes 13, 20, 21, 22

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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