Edward
Robinson
1903
Metropolitan
Museum,
New York
Oil on
canvas
143.5
x92.1
cm (56 1/2
x 36 1/4 in.)
Gift
of Mrs.
Edward
Robinson, 1931
31.60
Jpg: the
Met / jasonj05
(Click on image to Step Closer)
This portrait is of
the
esteemed
director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts -- Edward Robinson who was
appointed
director in 1902.
It is the same
Edward
Robinson who
would later strike the deal
with Sargent (1916) to buy Madame X for the Metropolitan
Museum
in New York. John had known Edward since the 1890's when Edward
was
working at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts as a curator of classical
antiquities.
And it was Edward that spearheaded the fund drive for continuation of
the Boston Public
Library
murals after its first instillation in 1895. By 1902 Edward had
moved
up to Director. In '05 he left Boston to become the Assistant Director
of the Met; and would become Director of the Met in 1910. He would
serve
in this capacity for a long twenty-one years.
For an artist,
Edward was
a powerful
and influential man to know and was clearly a friend in John's corner.
In many ways Sargent gives us a portrait paying homage to this powerful
man -- a mover-and shaker in his world. Robinson must have
loved
his portrait.
Richard
Morris Hunt
American
architect
Metropolitan
Museum of Art
(1890-02)
Notes:
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