Lot Essay
RELATED LITERATURE
L. Millet, Letters to her parents, Sept. 14-15, 1885.
Hon. E. Charteris, John Sargent, New York, 1927, p. 73
In 1885, following a difficult winter in Paris, and discouraged by the progress of his career but unwilling to return to American, Sargent sought an invitation to stay in England. He found just what he was looking for when he settled in the Cotswald village of Broadway - a pleasant countryside from which to develop his work and intellectual stimulation with which to sharpen his perceptions. Broadway became a retreat for artists and writers including Henry James, Alfred Parsons, Edwin Austin Abby, fellow Bostonian Francis Millet, Frederic Bainard and the distinguished poet, author and critic Edmund Gosse. According to Charteris, "To find himself now at Broadway with two distinguished men of letters (James and Gosse) devoted to his cause, and among fellow countrymen and enthusiatic admirers, must have seemed to Sargent like sailing into port."
Through Gosse's encouragement, Sargent was frantically busy, using his surroundings as his inspiration. Every day he would set up an easel "nowhere in particular...behind a barn, opposite a wall, in the middle of a field" (Gosse in Ratcliff, p. 97). It was during this time that Sargent became more interested in capturing the effect of whatever met his vision than portraying an arranged setting. He also became concerned with the reflection of light and color which, accompanied by his bold, fluid brushwork, revealed his growing interest in Impressionism.
The Portrait of Teresa Gosse is significant in the evolution of Sargent's style. In a letter to Dr. McDonough dated June 10, 1985, Patricia Hills, curator of the 1986 Whitney exhibition John Singer Sargent, wrote: "I have come to the conclusion that your portrait is pivotal in the development of Sargent's Impressionism at that time. Working outdoors Sargent was attempting to merge his ten-year-old study of values (the light and dark characteristics of forms) with his new awareness of how qualities of local color become subjective to the specific perception of the artist. He was experimenting and working it through. It is a work which I want to feature prominently in this exhibition."
There was a great deal of camaraderie that summer between Sargent and the Gosse family. This portrait was painted on the occasion of Gosse's daughter Teresa's eighth birthday on September 14, 1885. The Millets held a party for Teresa and each child wore a wreath of flowers. According to Lucia Millet in a letter dated Tuesday, September 15, 1885, "We danced contra dances and played games till everybody was completely tired out. I am sure none of them will forget it for some time." Sargent spontaneously immortalized the moment in this portrait of Teresa standing in brilliant sunlight with her red hair delicately festooned with lavender flowers. At this time, Sargent painted several studies of children including his masterwork of the Barnard sisters, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886) in the collection of the Tate Gallery. The year after the present portrait, he painted two portraits of Edmund Gosse, one at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the other at Brotherton Library, Leeds.
This painting will be included in the catalogue raisonné of John Singer Sargent presently being prepared by Odile Duff, Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond. ÿ
L. Millet, Letters to her parents, Sept. 14-15, 1885.
Hon. E. Charteris, John Sargent, New York, 1927, p. 73
In 1885, following a difficult winter in Paris, and discouraged by the progress of his career but unwilling to return to American, Sargent sought an invitation to stay in England. He found just what he was looking for when he settled in the Cotswald village of Broadway - a pleasant countryside from which to develop his work and intellectual stimulation with which to sharpen his perceptions. Broadway became a retreat for artists and writers including Henry James, Alfred Parsons, Edwin Austin Abby, fellow Bostonian Francis Millet, Frederic Bainard and the distinguished poet, author and critic Edmund Gosse. According to Charteris, "To find himself now at Broadway with two distinguished men of letters (James and Gosse) devoted to his cause, and among fellow countrymen and enthusiatic admirers, must have seemed to Sargent like sailing into port."
Through Gosse's encouragement, Sargent was frantically busy, using his surroundings as his inspiration. Every day he would set up an easel "nowhere in particular...behind a barn, opposite a wall, in the middle of a field" (Gosse in Ratcliff, p. 97). It was during this time that Sargent became more interested in capturing the effect of whatever met his vision than portraying an arranged setting. He also became concerned with the reflection of light and color which, accompanied by his bold, fluid brushwork, revealed his growing interest in Impressionism.
The Portrait of Teresa Gosse is significant in the evolution of Sargent's style. In a letter to Dr. McDonough dated June 10, 1985, Patricia Hills, curator of the 1986 Whitney exhibition John Singer Sargent, wrote: "I have come to the conclusion that your portrait is pivotal in the development of Sargent's Impressionism at that time. Working outdoors Sargent was attempting to merge his ten-year-old study of values (the light and dark characteristics of forms) with his new awareness of how qualities of local color become subjective to the specific perception of the artist. He was experimenting and working it through. It is a work which I want to feature prominently in this exhibition."
There was a great deal of camaraderie that summer between Sargent and the Gosse family. This portrait was painted on the occasion of Gosse's daughter Teresa's eighth birthday on September 14, 1885. The Millets held a party for Teresa and each child wore a wreath of flowers. According to Lucia Millet in a letter dated Tuesday, September 15, 1885, "We danced contra dances and played games till everybody was completely tired out. I am sure none of them will forget it for some time." Sargent spontaneously immortalized the moment in this portrait of Teresa standing in brilliant sunlight with her red hair delicately festooned with lavender flowers. At this time, Sargent painted several studies of children including his masterwork of the Barnard sisters, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886) in the collection of the Tate Gallery. The year after the present portrait, he painted two portraits of Edmund Gosse, one at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the other at Brotherton Library, Leeds.
This painting will be included in the catalogue raisonné of John Singer Sargent presently being prepared by Odile Duff, Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond. ÿ