JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925)

Details

JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925)

Mrs. Archibald Douglas Dick

signed John S. Sargent and dated 1886, u.r.--oil on canvas
63½ x 36 5/8in. (161.2 x 93cm.)

Provenance

Commissioned by Mrs. Parrott, the sitter's mother
Mrs. Archibald Douglas Dick, to her daughter Mrs. R. Drummond-Wolff
New York: Sotheby's Parke Bernet, May 1981
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York

Literature

W. H. Downes, John S. Sargent: His Life and Work, London, 1926, p. 361
Hon. E. Charteris, John Sargent, London, 1927, p. 259
C. M. Mount, John Singer Sargent: a Biography, New York, 1955, p. 431, 861; (1957 ed. p. 339; 1969 ed., p. 436)
D. McKibbin, Sargent's Boston, Boston, 1956, p. 96
R. Ormond, John Singer Sargent, New York, 1970, p. 40

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, Royal Academy Winter Exhibition of the Works by the late John S. Sargent, 1926, no. 406
Winter Park, Florida, The George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Fine Arts Center, Rollins College, The Genteel Tradition, 1985, illus.
Nashville, The Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Selections from the Ira and Nancy Koger Collection of American Paintings, June-July 1989, illus. (this exhibition travelled to Jacksonville, Cummer Gallery of Art, Aug.-Sept. 1989)

Lot Essay

Mrs. Archibald Douglas Dick (1863-1931) was born Isabelle Parrott, the daughter of John Parrott, A Virginian banker and merchant. She married Brigadier Archibald Dick in 1883 and had one son and six daughters.

This and the companion portrait of Brigadier Dick were commissioned ny Mrs. Dick's mother and both are dated 1886. The sitter is said to have complained that Sargent had painted her with a red nose. "I paint what I see!" is reported to have been his reply.