Please send any information you might have on Sargent in Florence in the early 1900s.  SAAM has a Sargent watercolor depicting a fountain in the Villa di Medici gardens.  It is similar to a work in the Brooklyn Museum of Art depicting a different fountain in the same garden.  I would like to know more about this trip, if possible. 

Sincerely, 
 
Parker C. Agelasto 
Curatorial Program Assistant 
Smithsonian American Art Museum 
750 9th Street NW  Suite 9500 
Washington, DC 20560-0970 
202-275-1457  phone 
202-275-1420  fax 
Ag  ela  stoP@saam.si.edu

You and me both. 

Not a lot is known (at least from what I can see) about specific information regarding specific years in his trips in and around Florence. I mean there are countless references to trips and we can pinpoint exactly which gardens he visited by his paintings but we really don't have any juicy information regarding antidotal information about what they did. Nor have I found (please someone correct me if I'm wrong) a book which outlines and really explains his trips to Florence.  

You can find any number of references to specific gardens and fountains which he painted in any number of books such as "Sargent Abroad: Figures and Landscapes" and the Olson biography to name a couple (see books), but all have left me wanting to know so much more. 

To pull it all together will take considerable amount of time. What a great project to work on and what a great question!  

Is there any way you can send me an image of the fountain in Villa di Medici gardens which the SAAM has, along with anything you know about it? Would love to feature it. 

All my best 

Natasha Wallace

Do you know whether Sargent painted or drew any images of his garden at 31 Tite Street? or alternatively whether there were any photos taken during his time there? I would be very grateful if you are able to help

I don't know.  

Anyone?

Dear Ms. Wallace .. 

I am absolutely knocked over by your web site!  Words that come to mind are (and I've got a degree in Fine Arts as well as known some major artist, etc.) ... "accomplished collection of data and insight into one of America's most distinguished painter portraitists ... thorough ..exhaustive .. complete ..." And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

I am a writer and researcher in Boston doing a piece concerning an event within the Gov. C. Coolidge administration (circa 1919 to 1920) ... I am eager to know from your extensive research if JSS ever visited or attempted to solicit a commission from C. Coolidge? 

I am sure that you must have many demands upon your time ... I appreciate whatever attention you could give to this query. 

Sincerely, 

Marc Peloquin 
 

Thanks Marc. 

No, I'm afraid as far as I know he made no attempt at a commission from president Coolidge. Out of Sargent's major biographies, there is no mention of Coolidge, something which would obviously show up (you would think) if there had been something there. By 1919 Sargent was working furiously on murals and he always tried to dodge these high profile portraits towards the end of his life. In the two presidents that he did paint -- Teddy Roosevelt and W. Wilson -- the commissions seemed to come from outside himself (from other people commissioning him to do it) so its unlikely that he had tried to get a commission and was refused.  

Good question though and good luck on your research  

Natasha  
  

Oops, 

I see your talking about when he was a Governor. Well, again, I haven't seen any reference to Sargent painting Coolidge at any time. 
 
 

Do You Occasionally Write Newspaper Articles, Perhaps Online Newspapers?

No. Since I hold no credentials regarding art history I've never been asked nor have I ever tried to get anything published -- art related. As some people do, I have written creatively on other things -- mostly for my own pleasure. 

Thanks for asking 

Natasha

Hi Natasha, I wonder if you could refer me to anyone doing research on the use of photography in Sargent\'s paintings? 
 

Here a message from a very distant distant distant ..... cousin in 
australia... 

But ... who knows... Is Sargent related with Vlastos ??? 

Love 

Françoise BB

I would like to know if John Singer had done a painting on the name of "Lake of Gold"

I greatly appreciate your comments or response.

Kind regards,

Manon
 

Not that I know of

Hello Natasha.

I was fortunate enough to attend the JSS exhibit here in Seattle in 2001 and fell in love with one of his paintings. I cannot remember the name of it...something like "Women at Work" or "Working Women". It was an open villa setting with bright purple colors and it seems as though women were smashing grapes or something. I have been in search of a print of this painting and can't find it. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Tami MacDonald

The painting you're asking about maybe be entitled

Women at Work, ca. 1910 
Oil on canvas 
22 x 28 in. 
Private collection, Seattle, Washington 

It was listed as No. 90 at the Seattle show. In the Book Sargent Abroad, they mention the painting on p. 156 (although no picture) wherein they say "[Sargent matched in another painting] the gypsies to a spare and stoney environment, as he had matched the characters in Women at work to one of luxuriant fruitfulness." -- the book dates the work 1912. The painting might be featured in  Trevor J. Fairbrother's book but I don't know

Dear Natasha,

Thank you for this wonderful website on Sargent. I am series editor for a project entitled "Cultures in Dialogue," which is bringing back into print works by Western women who traveled to the Ottoman/Turkey and Ottoman women who traveled West. I am also writing the introduction to one of the books in the series, Anna Bowman Dodd's In the Palaces of the Sultan (1903). Biographical information on her has been very hard to come, although I did track down her estate, which she left to the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York. They have a portrait of her painted by Sargent , which you have listed on your cite. It was painted in 1890 and the number that is listed beside it is 9014 [and it's entitled
Mrs. Edward Dodd]. I am just wondering if you happen to know anything about the relationship between Dodd and Sargent or how much she would have paid (if she did) to be painted by him. Thank you for your help. Best wishes, Teresa



Teresa Heffernan
Associate Professor
Department of English
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, NS
B3H 3C3

Thank you  for your prompt response, and the posting.  There was no information on Anna's relationship to Sargent, although I did get to look at her letters and will and so did get other useful information on her.  Her parents had their portraits done by Greenleaf, and her maiden name is Blake.  Best,
Teresa

From: Natasha

Dear Teresa,

I checked the three portrait books and the biography by Olson, none of them mention the portrait Dodd -- nor might I add her maiden name Bowman. So I presume we know little about it and her. Maybe someone can come up with anything.

Did the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York have any info?

Natasha